A surprise announcement rippled across the air cargo industry on Friday, 21FEB25: Atlas Air and DHL Express announced their decision to terminate their Polar Air Cargo joint venture, 18 years after its launch. At the front of many people’s minds: the airline’s long-term fraud scandal that had come to light in 2021 and subsequently saw 4 of its executives imprisoned. Yet, the two companies state that the reason for the termination was due to a change in their own respective strategies.
Given that Polar Air Cargo was actively looking to fill financial and business positions just five months ago, the news on 21FEB25, that Atlas Air and DHL Express would be terminating their Polar Air Cargo joint venture, came as a surprise. Or rather, the timing of the announcement was a surprise, according to an insider, when CargoForwarder Global reached out. The decision itself, not so much, given how the air cargo market has been developing these past few years, they felt.
There were many things going for Polar Air Cargo, however. It had won prizes in recent years for Best All Cargo Airline, it was under new management, had a well-balanced senior management team, was CEIV Pharma certified and had significant expertise in a very diverse portfolio of commodities – including e-commerce, and operated a modern fleet on a strong global network.
Mutual Decision
Both Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (who owns a 51% stake in Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, and owns Atlas Air) and DHL Express (49%), stated that the decision was taken because the joint venture no longer aligns with their respective strategic directions. Atlas Air has embarked on a One Atlas Strategy, this year, which focuses on a strategic transformation and diversification model that includes goals such as diversifying its customer base (to also include direct shippers and e-commerce platforms, for example), strengthening its market position and expanding its global footprint, modernizing its fleet, concentrating more on profitable long-distance air cargo operations, and creating a thriving workplace culture for its 5,000 employees.
Over at DHL Express, its ‘Strategy 2025’ is strongly aimed at digital transformation (including a EUR 2 billion spend on digitalization by the end of this year), e-commerce, core-business development, and operational excellence, to name but a few goals.
Both companies place a high value on customer and employee satisfaction and though Polar Air Cargo’s fraud scandal has been negated as the reason for the decision, the distrust and negative effects it caused will surely have been a blight on its parent companies, too. At least, judging by readers’ comments on some of the media pages reporting on the news, the recurring message was “Polar Air drama over.”
Fleet Transfer
Interestingly, there are no official statements regarding the termination on any of the company websites. Though Polar flights appear to have ceased with the end of FEB25, its website and LinkedIn page remain as if it were still operating, and neither Atlas Air nor DHL Express have any reference to the decision on their news pages. While there is no timeline given as to when Polar Air Cargo will have been disbanded, Freightwaves reported that DHL will reclaim two Boeing 777 cargo jets and Atlas Air will take control of the four Boeing 747-8 freighters that Polar had been operating for DHL thus far, and will continue to provide air transport services for DHL Express as per the original vendor arrangement. Atlas will retain Polar’s air operating certificate, and also continue to provide crews, maintenance, and insurance DHL’s two reclaimed Boeing 777 freighters. However, Atlas Air will also redeploy its fleet additions to serve other customers under long-term contracts.
532 people work for Polar Air Cargo. Some operations and staff will transfer to Atlas Air, while others will move to DHL. It is not clear, however, if all staff will be provided with new positions. While freighter capacities will remain the same, reorganizations often result in a certain amount of redundancies.
