Airborne Express

Airborne
ABF dba Airborne Express
Airborne Freight Company (ABF)
Pacific Air Freight
Founded1949 (1949)
FoundersPhilip Gruger
John D. McPherson
DefunctAugust 15, 2003 (2003-08-15)
FateAcquired
SuccessorDHL
HeadquartersSeattle, Washington
Key peopleHolt W. Webster
Revenue$3.3 billion (2002)
Number of employees
15,200 full time
7,300 part-time
YE2002
SubsidiariesABX Air (1980–2003)

Airborne Express was the trade name, from 1985 onward, for a United States express delivery company sold to DHL in 2003. At the time it was sold, Airborne Express was the number three domestic package express company after FedEx and United Parcel Service.

The Airborne name originated as Airborne Flower Traffic, a California-based air freight forwarder incorporated in 1947, which in 1965 became Airborne Freight. However, management originated with Pacific Air Freight, a Seattle-based air freight forwarder that took over Airborne Freight in 1968, creating a new Delaware-incorporated Airborne Freight Corporation (ABF). After 1977 US air cargo deregulation and facing the fast growth of Federal Express, the company made the transition from air freight forwarder to integrated overnight package delivery, buying cargo airline Midwest Air Charter in 1980, including the airline's Wilmington, Ohio hub. Airborne survived the overnight package delivery shakeout of the 1980s to remain the number three service through its 2003 sale to DHL. At the end of 2000, ABF finally changed its name to Airborne Express, Inc., in conjunction with creation of a holding company simply called Airborne, Inc.

As of 2026, Airborne's former airline subsidiary, ABX Air, remains in operation, having been spun out at the time of the 2003 merger due to DHL's foreign ownership.

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