DHL opened its new European hub at Germany's Leipzig/Halle airport on Monday, expanding the express carrier's international network and pushing the European operations further to the East.

"Demand for Express services is growing worldwide and we took the decision to invest in our international network in order to meet this need," said John Mullen, CEO of DHL Express. "The state-of-the-art new hub will enable us to continue to offer the best possible service, quality and reach for our customers. It is not only one of the industry's most technically advanced hubs, with some of the world's most sophisticated sorting equipment, but it will also protect and strengthen our leading position in the European, and indeed global, express market."

DHL spent nearly $400 million on the hub in the industrial region that once was part of East Germany. The site is far to the East of the traditional intra-European air hubs in Western Europe, including DHL's longtime base in Brussels. "It is situated at a crossroads to provide direct North-South and East-West access to Europe, and connects both established and emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia," DHL said in a statement.

The site also will enable close cooperation between DHL and Lufthansa Cargo under an agreement between the two operators to share aircraft space out of Leipzig. The Europe hub launch comes as DHL is preparing to unveil a broad reorganization of its money-losing United States operations.