DHL Aviation

As of December 2025, the DHL Aviation fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

In 2002, BAL Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, a Tupolev Tu-154 passenger jet, collided with DHL International Aviation ME Flight 611, a Boeing 757-200 cargo jet at 35,000 ft (11,000 m) over Überlingen, Germany. All 69 passengers on board the Bashkiran flight (consisting mainly of Russian schoolchildren) and the two pilots of DHL were killed.

The DHL shootdown incident in Baghdad on 22 November 2003 wherein Iraqi insurgents fired an SA-7 "Grail" surface-to-air missile at a European Air Transport Airbus A300 operating on behalf of DHL Aviation. The aircraft took off from Baghdad airport whereupon the missile struck the left wing, disabling all three hydraulic systems and set the wing on fire. The aircraft began a dangerous phugoid (vertical oscillation) but the crew managed to land safely at the airport, despite only being able to control the aircraft by adjusting the engine thrust.

On 13 August 2004, Air Tahoma Flight 185, a Convair 580 crashed in Florence, Kentucky due to fuel starvation and pilot error.

On 18 March 2010, Exin Flight 3589, a DHL Antonov An-26 aircraft made an emergency landing on the frozen Lake Ülemiste, close to Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport. Initial reports indicated problems with the landing gear and one of the engines. The flight was operated by Exin on behalf of DHL. The aircraft involved was SP-FDO and the flight departed from Helsinki Airport. One of the six crew members was injured.

On 13 February 2021, the cargo door of DHL Air UK Flight 126, Boeing 757-200 freighter registered G-DHKZ, opened at an altitude of approximately 5,300 ft (1,600 m) after the aircraft departed from Leipzig/Halle Airport. Airframe parts fell on the grounds of a power plant approximately 10 nmi (12 mi; 19 km) from the airport, but no cargo was lost, and the flight crew was able to return to Leipzig/Halle with no injuries. The incident is under investigation.

On 7 April 2022, DHL de Guatemala Flight 7216, a Boeing 757-27A (PCF), crash landed in San Jose, Costa Rica after attempting an emergency landing due to a hydraulic failure. Both crew members survived without injuries.