DHL buys Astar back, beefs up competition against UPS & FDX

DHL has purchased a 49% stake and 24.9% voting interest in Astar Air Cargo based in Miami and extended its contract with the cargo company through 2019, according to the Miami Herald. The stake is just under federal limits that restrict foreign ownerships of U.S. airlines. DHL is owned by German's Deutsche Post.

The purchase comes four years after Astar, which was then called DHL Airways, was sold by DHL to a group led by John Dasburg for $57 million.

We don't want you. Now we want you.

"Today's announcement signals DHL's confidence in the capabilities of Astar and the high quality of air cargo services ASTAR provides to DHL in the U.S.," according to Chairman, President and CEO John Dasburg, who will keep his position in the air cargo company.

I wonder what his four-year investment raked in.

While the terms were not disclosed (I'd take a guess to think it was more than $57 million), DHL has stated their recent investments will help expedite its U.S.-Asia air shipments. Note that DHL had recently invested in New York's Polar Air Cargo, which provides delivery services between the U.S. and Asia. Astar, the former DHL Airways, operates a fleet of 44 aircrafts and handles a third of DHL's U.S. express domestic air services.