Air Freight Services

Air cargo refers to the goods carried on an aircraft, apart from passengers and their baggage. Air freight usually refers to the service of shipping those goods by air, and sometimes to the charge for it. In practice, most shippers, airlines and brokers use the two terms interchangeably. Some people use air cargo for freight in the holds of passenger aircraft and air freight for freight on dedicated freighters, but there is no fixed industry rule. What matters more to a shipper is the service level, the aircraft and whether a price covers only the flight or the whole trip from pickup to delivery.

An airline or freighter operator owns and flies the aircraft. It sells space on scheduled flights, usually from one airport's cargo terminal to another, or charters out a whole aircraft. A freight forwarder buys that space, consolidates shipments from many customers and often handles international documents and customs. An air freight broker arranges the shipment for the shipper, matching it to the right flight or aircraft and managing the trucks at each end. A broker does not own aircraft. Its job is to own the whole trip, from pickup to delivery, and to find another flight, a charter or a truck when the first plan fails.

Next flight out is an expedited service that books a shipment on the first scheduled flight with space between two airports. The freight still shares a commercial flight with other cargo, so it costs far less than a charter, but it is booked for the earliest departure rather than the most economical one. A truck or courier collects the freight and gets it to the airline's cargo terminal before the cutoff, and another vehicle recovers it at the destination airport for final delivery. It suits replacement parts, tooling, medical items and other small to mid-sized shipments that need to arrive as soon as possible.

Hand carry, also called onboard courier service, puts a shipment in the care of a courier who travels with it on a passenger flight. The item goes as carry-on or checked baggage, and the courier collects it on arrival and delivers it in person. Because the item never leaves the courier's custody, hand carry suits small, critical or high-value pieces such as aircraft parts, circuit boards, medical devices and legal documents. Size and weight are limited by airline baggage rules, and hazardous materials are restricted. For anything larger, next flight out or a charter is the usual alternative.

An air cargo charter books an entire aircraft for one shipment. The aircraft departs when the cargo is ready, flies directly to the airport closest to the destination and can use smaller airfields that scheduled flights do not serve. Charter aircraft range from light turboprops that carry a few pieces to wide-body freighters with nose doors for oversized freight. A charter costs considerably more than scheduled air freight, because the shipper pays for the whole aircraft. It is used when no scheduled flight meets the deadline, when the freight is too large for shared space, or when a route has no direct service.

Chargeable weight is the weight an airline bills, and it is the greater of the shipment's actual weight and its dimensional weight. Dimensional weight reflects the space the freight takes up in the aircraft. To find it in US units, multiply length, width and height in inches and divide by the airline's dim factor. A divisor of 166 is common for domestic air cargo, matching the international standard of 6,000 cubic centimeters per kilogram. A pallet measuring 48 by 40 by 36 inches has 69,120 cubic inches, or about 416 pounds of dimensional weight. If that pallet weighs 300 pounds, it bills at about 416 pounds.

An air waybill is the shipping document for freight that travels by air. It serves as the contract of carriage between the shipper and the airline, as a receipt showing the airline accepted the goods, and as a record of the shipment's details. It lists the shipper and consignee, the origin and destination airports, the number of pieces, the weight, a description of the goods and any special handling. Each air waybill carries a unique number that is used to track the shipment. Unlike an ocean bill of lading, an air waybill is not a document of title, so it cannot be traded to transfer ownership of the goods.

Many hazardous materials can fly, provided they meet dangerous goods rules. In the United States, the Department of Transportation and the FAA regulate them, and airlines also apply the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. The shipper must classify the material, use approved packaging, mark and label each package and sign a shipper's declaration. Some materials are allowed only on cargo aircraft, some have per-package limits and some are forbidden in the air entirely. Lithium batteries, aerosols, paints, flammable liquids and certain chemicals are common examples. Declaring them up front matters, because the hazard decides which flights, aircraft and couriers can carry the shipment.

Many cargo flights do operate at night. Freighter networks often fly overnight so freight picked up in the afternoon can be sorted and delivered the next morning, and night departures avoid daytime congestion at busy airports. Cargo also flies during the day, in the holds of passenger aircraft and on charters that depart when the freight is ready. Some airports restrict night operations to limit noise, with curfews or limits on late departures and arrivals. Those rules can affect when a charter can land or take off, so they are worth checking for any time-critical flight into a smaller or urban airport.

Air freight serves industries where time or value outweighs the cost of shipping. Aerospace companies fly replacement parts for grounded aircraft. Manufacturers and automotive plants ship parts to keep production lines running. Healthcare and life sciences companies move medical devices, samples and pharmaceuticals. Electronics and technology firms ship high-value components. Energy, oil and gas, and construction projects fly critical equipment to remote sites. Retailers fly inventory to meet launch dates and seasonal peaks. The common thread is a shipment whose delay would cost far more than the flight, which is why many of these shippers keep an air freight provider on call.