Neil,
As the saying goes ?be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it?. I personally hope that some sort of deal between the EU and the US will be to everybody?s advantage in the long run, especially as the integrators continue their globalization effort in grand scale. We are currently witnessing a severe degradation of the pilot profession here in the US, including that of the pilots that work for the US based DHL contractors. I view cooperation and communication between pilot groups around the world as very important as outsourcing is becoming the new corporate fad. When it comes down to it, the customer does not really care how a package gets from point A and point B. What the customer cares about is price, timeliness and reliability, and that is it. If major corporations can cut costs they will, and in any conceivable way.
Out of curiosity do you know if any DHL pilots in Europe are actual DHL employees or do they work for subcontractors like in the US? In the US the two primary DHL subcontractors are ABX (Airborne Express) and ASTAR. These companies are basically ACMI contractors that bid to fly DHL routes. From what I understand Kalitta was just awarded a route that used to be flown by ASTAR. Sadly what is going on in the US aviation right now is a slow race to the bottom.
http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/content/view/26/12/
http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/content/view/28/12/
http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/content/view/34/12/