DHL has opened discussions with ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo about the possibility of taking over its domestic US operations out of Wilmington, according to an Associated Press report. Following the announcement last November by Deutsche Post, that its subsidiary DHL Express would shut down its US domestic package shipping operation it said it would hire United Parcel Service (UPS) to handle its US domestic volumes. An agreement to negotiate exclusively with UPS expired at the end of January, and DHL now says it has started talking with other possible partners, including Air Transport Services Group’s ABX Air, which operated DHL’s Wilmington airfield and hub