Air trucking is the truck work that turns a flight into a door to door delivery: one truck to the airport, another from the airport to the receiver. AirFreight.com arranges the flight and both trucks together. Share the freight and the deadline to get started.
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Shipping within tight time constraints? We put businesses at ease with urgent shipping solutions, including air charter, air freight, and hand carry options, available nationwide. And when air delivery services aren't the right solution, we also offer urgent trucking solutions for seamless ground transport.
Our understanding of global trade, global cargo routes, and air cargo schedules allows us to tailor each delivery to meet your needs. We're available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round to support you when you need it most. We dispatch a vehicle sized to your freight to pick up your delivery as quickly as possible.
You'll work one-on-one with a single point of contact who will guide you through the shipping process from door to door. No matter the complexity of your shipment, we're here to provide personalized guidance. Explore our custom shipping solutions to choose the right option for you.
Move your cargo across the country, whether from a metro area or a remote location. We'll help you meet ultra-critical delivery deadlines with the right aircraft. Enjoy concierge-level customer service and complete shipment flexibility to get your delivery to its final destination with ease.
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Meet your dependable air freight broker for custom air freight solutions. We offer routine assistance and utilize high-tech tracking systems to ensure every shipment arrives on schedule. Choose from next flight out (NFO), overnight, or economy (general freight), depending on your individual requirements.
When you have a highly sensitive or critical shipment, our hand carry service provides security and speed. This service is not typically available for larger freight, but it's ideal for time-sensitive or high-value items. It's also the perfect solution for rescuing a delayed shipment, ensuring it gets back on track and into the right hands as quickly as possible.
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When air delivery isn't the right fit for your shipment, our urgent trucking solutions might be the answer. We support your urgent ground shipping needs with expedited trucking options. Choose from sprinter vans, cargo vans, and trucks of all sizes, including tractor-trailers, to get your items where they need to be—fast.
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Trucks make air door to door
The trucking at each end matters as much as the flight.
Air trucking describes the truck work that comes with air freight. This page is about the service, not a company with that name. Freight rarely starts or ends at an airport. A truck has to collect it from the shipper and deliver it to the airline's cargo terminal, and after the flight another truck has to recover it and deliver it to the receiver.
Those two trucking legs turn an airport-to-airport flight into a door to door shipment. They often take as long as the flight itself, so they matter just as much. A late pickup can miss the cutoff, and a recovery truck that is not booked can leave freight waiting at the destination airport.
AirFreight.com arranges the flight and both trucking legs together, so the whole air trucking move is planned as one shipment from pickup to delivery.
Truck, fly, truck
Each leg is planned around the next one.
A combined air and truck move follows a clear sequence. The pickup truck collects the freight, checks it against the paperwork and drives it to the airport, arriving before the airline's cutoff. There the freight is tendered, screened and built into a container or onto a pallet for the flight.
After the flight lands, the freight is unloaded and made available. A recovery truck collects it from the cargo terminal, checks the pieces and drives it to the receiver, who signs for it. The air waybill, the document that serves as the contract for the flight, travels with the shipment and is used to track it.
Planning the trucks and the flight together is what keeps the move on time. AirFreight.com books all three at once and follows the shipment through each handoff.
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A small, single-engine aircraft with a large aft cargo door, designed for short- to medium-range travel. The PC-12 operates from small airfields and is known for safety and reliability.
A small, twin-engined turboprop aircraft for short- to medium-range deliveries. Capacity is limited, but its size and versatility allow it to use airports close to where its cargo is produced and needed.
The perfect aircraft for delivering vital parts or materials quickly, this famously efficient private jet accommodates five pallets and has a range of nearly 3,000 miles.
A smaller, twin-engined jet built for short- to medium-range transportation. Cargo capacity is a little over 10 tons, but the ability to use shorter runways increases the versatility of this aircraft.
Built for efficient delivery of huge loads to any corner of the globe. The wide-body design, with an opening nose, large side door, and cargo handling system, simplifies loading and unloading.
Some air cargo rides a truck
Road feeder service links airports by road under the air waybill.
Some air cargo travels part of its journey entirely by truck, even though it is booked as air freight. This is known as road feeder service. The freight moves under its air waybill on a truck between airports, for example from a smaller airport to a larger hub where it connects to a long-haul flight, or from the arrival hub to an airport closer to the receiver.
Airlines and providers use road feeder service when there is no suitable direct flight, when flights are full or when trucking between two nearby airports is simpler than flying. For the shipper, the freight is still treated as air cargo, but part of the transit time is spent on the road.
Knowing this helps set expectations about timing. AirFreight.com chooses routings for each shipment and explains when part of the move will travel by truck.
Air is not always the fastest choice. Every air shipment includes a drive to the airport, the cutoff, screening, the flight and recovery at the other end. Within driving range, a dedicated truck that leaves at pickup and drives straight to the receiver avoids all of those steps and often arrives first.
Ground also suits freight that is hard to fly, such as heavy machinery, long pieces or loads that do not fit an aircraft's door. A Sprinter van carries up to 3,000 lbs, a straight truck up to 9,000 lbs, a hot shot up to 16,000 lbs and a 53 ft dry van up to 42,000 lbs.
Air wins when the distance is too great to drive in time. AirFreight.com compares air trucking with expedited ground for each shipment and recommends the option most likely to arrive first.
The right truck at each end
Trucks sized to the freight make the flight's speed count.
The trucks at each end are sized to the freight. A Sprinter van suits boxes and a pallet or two, a box truck or straight truck suits several pallets and liftgate deliveries, and a 53 ft dry van suits large shipments. Delicate freight, such as electronics or instruments, often travels on trucks with air-ride suspension, which cushions bumps on the road.
Many industries rely on air trucking. Aerospace companies fly parts to aircraft waiting for repair, medical suppliers send equipment and supplies, electronics makers ship valuable components, automotive plants fly urgent parts and event teams move equipment between venues.
In every case, the trucks decide whether the flight's speed reaches the customer. AirFreight.com arranges the right truck at each end, with one expeditor following the shipment from pickup to delivery.
A shipment goes right when one person owns it, the option fits and the updates are honest.
“I had a single point of contact assigned to our shipment that was fantastic on keeping me updated every step of the way.”
Pamela · TrustpilotWhen you call AirFreight.com, you reach a real person right away, and that same person owns your shipment from the first call to final delivery. You never have to explain it twice.
Your expeditor books it, follows it the whole way and is the person you call next time.
“I called up at 7:30 pm... one that was secured cancelled at the end of the day. Todd quoted three shipments on the spot... The last shipment was picked up at Midnight.”
Susan · TrustpilotEvery shipment is different, and the right solution is the one that actually fits. We arrange next flight out, scheduled air freight, same day hand carry, air charter and expedited ground across North America.
We match the shipment to the option it needs, so you never pay for capacity or speed you do not use.
“True to word. They did exactly what they said they would do.”
Dan · TrustpilotUrgent freight is stressful enough without wondering whether you have the full story. We give you the price before you commit, the timeline as it actually stands, and if something goes wrong, you hear it from us first.
That includes telling you when a truck will get there first.
talk to an expeditor now
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