Air Freight Forwarding Services

Although the vast majority of international trade is transported by the sea, air freight still plays a small but crucial role in transporting goods around the world – generating £6 trillion in value according to the International Air Transport Association.

The air freight market in 2022 is currently suffering due to high fuel costs and other significant market changes, so prices are more expensive than usual due to supplier competition.

Different Types of Air Freight

Air freight is “the carriage of goods by aircraft” and there are different types for consideration:

  • Express: The fastest and most expensive way to ship goods. In exchange for a premium price, your goods are guaranteed to make it to their destination on time.
  • Standard: This is the most common service, in which the shipment may make several stops at different airports and transfer into different aircraft before reaching its final destination.
  • Deferred: This service allows shipments that are not a high priority to be deferred until space becomes available on an aircraft. It is the most cost-effective due to a longer transit time.
  • Charter: If you need to move a large number of goods urgently, then you can charter a plane and transport them yourself. This is very quick but extremely expensive.
Air Freight at KG Logistics

Benefits of Air Freight

  • Speed: It is the fastest form of freight transportation, significantly faster than sea, road and rail alternatives.
  • Reliable: As airlines operate on strict schedules, cargo arrival and departure times are very reliable.
  • Safety: Due to strict security measures, you can feel comfortable that your cargo is being well looked after during its transportation.
  • Accessibility: Due to the nature of the transportation, air freight offers wide coverage of flights to many locations around the world. It can give you access to places that other freight options cannot easily.
Air Freight Forwarding Services

Pricing of Air Freight

Weight is the main basis on which air freight rates are charged. Transporting goods with an air freight forwarder may be beneficial to an air courier as they base the price solely on weight, while the latter will usually charge extra for each individual item that they have to account for.

There may be additional charges involved with your transportation, such as customs brokerage, cargo insurance, documentation fees, airport transfer fees, and warehousing charge to name just a few. You should take these additional charges into account when deciding which freight option to transport your goods.

How long does Air Freight take?

The typical transit time for transporting items by air freight is within 1-3 days, but will depend on a range of factors:

  • The distance of the journey
  • Which air freight option is chosen (express, standard, etc)
  • The type of items being transported

Prohibited Items for Air Freight

There are some items that are not allowed to be transported by air freight. This could be because they endanger the aircraft or passengers’ health and safety, or cannot be stored in a way that keeps them undamaged.

  • Explosives, including fireworks.
  • Gases such as dry ice, fire extinguishers, inflated balls, aerosols’, and lamp bulbs.
  • Flammable liquids such as paint, gasoline, engine oil, alcohol, perfumes, and air fresheners.
  • Corrosive items such as batteries.
  • Toxic and infectious items.
  • Biochemical products.

There may be other restrictions that will apply due to national laws and regulations of specific airlines.

Ready to see change?

We provide a comprehensive range of transportation services and we always ensure that our solutions are cost effective and efficient. Our experience in the industry has allowed us to constantly provide reliable sea, air and road freight services from the UK to countries all over the world and we have now become one of the UK’s leading freight forwarding specialists.

Get a quotation to start your journey towards better logistics!