I've never really understood how the aviation department of delivery services is integrated with the company itself. Some of my questions may be way off, I'm definitely naive.

Operations like Fedex and UPS seem like the aircraft and crews are just as much as a part of the company like the trucks and their drivers. Is this an appropriate anology?

Companies like DHL and Airbone Express, which apparently are not seperate anymore, have what seems like a more seperate department for their aviation divisions. Do Abex and Astar operate seperately under contract for DHL/Airborne?

Also, a little off topic, but when you guys show up for work is it a pretty different environment than an airline because you're not under constant scrutiny of pax/FAs/gate agents? It seems like it would be a lot more mellow environment.

Any other information related to cargo ops is much appreciated.