“I think that DHL, particularly Deutsche Post, is doing everything they can to salve their conscience for what occurred,” Pat McQuiddy, a pilot who flew DHL cargo from Wilmington for contractor ASTAR Air Cargo, said in reference to DHL’s German parent company. “I don’t think they can do enough, for what happened.”
McQuiddy said he hopes the donated air park can spur job growth for Wilmington, which was devastated by the cutbacks at the DHL hub, the region’s largest employer. McQuiddy, of Lebanon, said he has stopped flying because he suffered a heart attack and has been unable to regain medical certification to return to the cockpit.
DHL and elected officials said Tuesday, Jan. 19, that they have a preliminary agreement under which the express freight company will donate the 1,500-acre airport near Wilmington to the Clinton County Port Authority. They expect to close the transaction by Feb. 28.
“They should have done that a long time ago,” said Marlene Brewington, of Waynesville. She worked 10 years for ABX Air at the Wilmington hub before losing her job when DHL slashed its U.S. operations and closed the hub to reduce its $1 billion annual losses in U.S. operations.
Brewington said she and other former ABX employees are staying in touch and looking for jobs while collecting unemployment compensation. If public officials can attract new employers and jobs to the air park, that could provide employment for those who previously worked there, Brewington said.
DHL no longer needs the Wilmington hub, having relocated its reduced operations to Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport. Wilmington Mayor David Raizk suggested the donation of the Wilmington property months ago, prompting the negotiations that led to Tuesday’s announcement.
DHL’s proposed donation agreement will allow the company to impose restrictions on the airport’s materials handling system and other assets for which DHL is still paying for its borrowings on $300 million in improvements the company made there. DHL is unable to take advantage of a tax deduction for the airport donation because of the magnitude of its U.S. operating losses, said Jon Olin, a senior vice president of DHL Express, the U.S. operating arm of the German parent company Deutsche Post.
DHL said it donated $1 million to the Clinton County Fund for community support, funded a career transition center for Wilmington Air Park employees, and contributed $50,000 to a regional cancer center.
“Ending operations in Wilmington was a difficult decision to make, but in the end, it helped us create a financially and operationally sound basis for our entire U.S. express business, and thus safeguard employment for thousands throughout the country,” said Frank Appel, Deutsche Post’s chief executive officer.
The company said it employs about 30,000 people in the United States, including about 3,800 in Ohio.
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