WILMINGTON — ABX Air Inc. will lay off 200 employees in two months because its biggest customer, cargo shipper DHL, will no longer require use of the planes the workers service for DHL, a top ABX executive said Tuesday, Aug. 19.

Those to be laid off will primarily be aircraft maintenance workers, but the group also will include some pilots and administrative employees, said Beth Huber, a spokeswoman for ABX Air.

The affected maintenance employees handle maintenance for older DC-9 aircraft that ABX has been operating as part of its fleet for flying DHL packages nationwide. DHL recently notified ABX that it is reducing the number of DC-9 planes it requires to be served by ABX, said Joe Hete, president and chief executive officer of Air Transport Services Group Inc., owner of ABX.

DHL's decision made it necessary for ABX to shutdown a heavy maintenance line it operated for the DC-9's, Hete said.

ABX is announcing the layoffs 60 days in advance to comply with federal law requiring the advance notification for layoffs of that size, Hete added.

DHL announced on May 28 that it will hire United Parcel Service to handle sorting and flying of DHL cargo in the United States, as part of a restructuring DHL hopes will reduce its $1 billion annual losses in U.S. operations.

Hete revealed the layoff plan during a break Tuesday at a joint state House-Senate meeting to examine the impact of projected losses of at least 8,200 jobs if DHL hires UPS. UPS has said it would handle the DHL cargo sorting and flying from Louisville, Ky., replacing current DHL operations in Wilmington.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.