"They have been hurt more by this than UPS or FedEx," Ross said. "Ground is growing and air express is shrinking and 45% of DHL's revenues came from next-day air service. That was one of their niches: large, corporate customers sending lots of documents by next-day air."
DHL, which lost more than $900 million in 2007, last month said it would ground its aging fleet of bright yellow jets and contract with UPS as its U.S. flight arm. Plantation, Fla.-based DHL, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post World Net, will concentrate on a streamlined ground delivery business, closing one-third of its U.S. branch offices, and reduce pickup and delivery routes by 17%.
If the 10-year, $1-billion agreement is finalized and passes a Justice Department antitrust review, UPS said its hub at Ontario International Airport would take on the DHL domestic air freight business that has been flying in and out of Riverside's March Air Reserve Base since 2005.
About 350 of DHL's approximately 40,000 U.S. employees work at March, and most stand to lose their jobs.
But the air hub's importance is symbolic as well. DHL's decision to open the operation was hailed as a sign of the airport's emergence as a player in the fiercely competitive regional shipping industry and as an anchor that could lure other business.
"It's a very large setback. These air hubs are becoming employment nodes for business relocation even when those businesses are not directly related to air freight," said economist John Husing, who focuses on Inland Empire development.
"It's a part of eastern Riverside County that really needs those types of jobs," he said. "That potential will be lost now."
Lori Stone, executive director of the March Joint Powers Authority, which overseas civilian flights at the military base, likened the potential loss of the air hub to a shopping mall that loses one of its anchor stores.
"DHL said they made their decision based on the overall downturn in the U.S. economy and the record prices of jet fuel," not on dissatisfaction with March's operations, Stone said. "We'll keep looking for other uses at the airport and see what kind of interest we have."
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ron.white@latimes.com
