The airline was spun off from DHL and a majority stake sold to a private investor in order to comply with federal foreign ownership laws.

FedEx and UPS challenged the U.S. citizenship of DHL Airways, asserting to the Department of Transportation that DPWN exercised effective operational control of the airline.

In 2007, DHL bought 49.5% of nonvoting and 24.5% of voting stock and added a member to the board of ASTAR Air Cargo.

On May 28, 2008, DHL announced the plan to terminate its business relationship with ASTAR by outsourcing the air transportation to its competitor UPS.

The company decided to shut down its cargo operations when its contract with DHL was terminated abruptly effective on June 1, 2012.