Final Boeing 777 Freighter Takes Flight as DHL Express and Singapore Airlines Conclude 2022 Agreement

DHL Express and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have deployed the fifth and final freighter as part of a tie-up signed in 2022.

The Boeing 777 freighter, which offers a payload capacity of 102 tons, will be based in Singapore and be used to expand capacity between Asia and the Americas.

In total, the five 777Fs will operate 12 flights each per week with a total payload capacity of 1,224 tons per aircraft per week.

Following the addition of the final aircraft, three of the five freighters will ply the Singapore-Bangkok/Taipei-Incheon/Nagoya-Cincinnatti-Honolulu-Sydney-Singapore route seven times a week.

The other two will cover the Singapore-Nagoya-Los Angeles-Honolulu-Singapore route five times a week.

DHL Express chief executive for Asia Pacific Ken Lee said: “Both Asia and the US are major economic powerhouses with significant trade flows.

“We continue to see significant demand for shipments between the two regions due to a huge volume of cross-border e-commerce and trade activities.

“In the last four years, shipment volume between Asia Pacific (excluding China) and the US increased by more than 20%.”

The deal between DHL Express and SIA was signed in March 2022. Under the agreement, SIA operates and oversees the maintenance of the five 777 freighters deployed at the South Asia Hub.

The deal initially runs for four years but has the option to extend.

The first of the five freighters was delivered in August 2022.

These five 777 freighters are part of DHL Express’ orders for 28 of the aircraft. So far, 22 have been delivered.