Air cargo charter FAQ

An air cargo charter is a freighter aircraft contracted for one specific movement or a defined programme, instead of buying space on a scheduled flight. The buyer controls the routing, the departure window and the loading plan, and the aircraft flies when the cargo is ready rather than when the network schedule allows. Charter is used when the cargo is too heavy, too large, too urgent or too sensitive for scheduled capacity, or when an entire production line depends on one delivery date.

A full charter contracts the entire cargo capacity of the aircraft for your mission, so routing and timing follow only your requirement. A part charter combines several shippers on one aircraft when commodity, routing and timing are compatible, and the cost is shared pro rata against weight and volume. A series charter is a repeating rotation over weeks or months, typically used for perishables, e-commerce peaks and industrial ramp-ups, and is priced against the whole programme rather than a single flight.

A broker sits between the cargo and the operators. We take the requirement, size it against aircraft types, request availability from operators that hold the right approvals for your routing and commodity, compare the offers on payload, timing, permits and total landed cost, and then coordinate slots, handling and documentation once you commit. Because we do not own aircraft, the aircraft recommendation follows the cargo rather than a fleet that has to be filled.

No. Cargo Charter Network is an independent brokerage. We do not operate aircraft, we do not employ flight crew and we hold no fleet exposure. Every flight is performed by a licensed operator under its own air operator certificate, and our role is sourcing, commercial structuring, coordination and a single accountable point of contact for the mission.

Expedited air freight is still scheduled capacity with priority handling, so it depends on the airline's flight plan, available space and any offload risk at transit points. A charter removes both the schedule and the offload risk, because the aircraft is contracted for your cargo alone. Where a shipment is too large for a scheduled main deck, or where a single day of delay costs more than the flight, charter is usually the cheaper answer in total cost terms.

Yes, subject to runway length and strength, ground handling capability, fuel availability, customs status and overflight or landing permits. Remote fields are routinely served with ramp-loading types such as the IL-76 or turboprops, while limited handling equipment can be compensated with self-loading aircraft or portable loaders. The feasibility check is done before any price is quoted, because an aircraft that cannot be turned around at destination is not a real option.

Charter is priced per mission, not per kilogram, so the total depends on aircraft type, block hours, positioning legs, fuel, crew duty limits, airport and handling charges, permits and any waiting time. A regional turboprop movement can sit in the low five figures, a narrowbody freighter sector in the mid five figures, and an intercontinental widebody or outsize rotation well into six figures. The realistic figure for your lane comes from the actual routing and dates, which is why our desk quotes against a defined requirement rather than a headline rate.

Five factors dominate: where the aircraft is before your flight, the flown distance and resulting block hours, the fuel uplift and fuel price at the departure station, the ground cost at both airports, and the regulatory work needed for the routing and the commodity. Positioning is the one buyers underestimate most, because an empty leg from the aircraft's current base to your loading point is charged even though no cargo moves on it. Flexible dates often reduce the positioning cost more than any negotiation on the hourly rate.

Only when the aircraft is well filled. A charter has a fixed mission cost, so the effective rate per kilogram falls as payload rises, and a full main deck can beat express rates on dense cargo. For small consignments scheduled freight is usually cheaper, and the case for charter is then made by control of timing, single-piece dimensions or handling requirements rather than by unit rate.

Freighters are rarely parked where the cargo is. Positioning is the flight that brings the aircraft to your loading airport, and depositioning is the return to its base or next mission. Both consume crew hours, fuel and airport charges, so they form part of the mission price. Choosing an airport close to an operator's home base, or accepting a slightly wider departure window, is the fastest way to reduce that share.

Our commercial model is transparent to the buyer in structure: you receive one all-in mission price with clearly stated inclusions, exclusions and assumptions. We do not disclose operator identities, supplier rates or internal margins, and we do not add hidden charges after acceptance. Anything not covered by the quoted price, typically demurrage, extended waiting time, deicing or customs-related delay, is named in the offer before you sign.

The most common variables are aircraft waiting time at loading or unloading, changes to the cargo after the offer, deicing in winter operations, extended overflight routings caused by airspace restrictions and fuel price movements on long lead times. Each of these is stated as an assumption in the offer, with the mechanism for adjustment. If the cargo and dates stay as described, the price stays as quoted.

Charter is normally prepaid before departure, because the operator commits aircraft and crew to your mission and cannot resell that slot at short notice. Payment terms for repeat customers and programme business are agreed separately once the account is established and credit checks are complete. Payment conditions are always shown in the offer, not introduced later.

For a straightforward routing with an available aircraft, a first option can be on the table within one to three hours and the aircraft airborne inside 12 to 24 hours. The limiting factors are rarely the aircraft itself: overflight and landing permits, crew duty time, airport slots and ground handling at both ends usually set the real timeline. Dangerous goods, live animals and outsize pieces add documentation and acceptance steps that need to be started immediately.

Origin and destination airports, ready date and latest acceptable arrival, commodity description, total weight, number of pieces, dimensions and weight per piece, stackability, temperature requirements and any dangerous-goods classification. If a value is not final, send a working figure and the reasonable maximum, and we will state the assumption in the offer. A precise requirement produces a sharper price, because the aircraft can be sized against the real load instead of a safety margin.

No. A requirement can be sent by form, email or the 24/7 desk line at any time, without an account. An account is optional and free: it adds status tracking, document exchange and a searchable history of your requirements, which is why most recurring buyers open one. Company verification applies to RFQs raised inside the portal, not to first contact.

Verification only matters if you choose to raise RFQs in the portal, and most business accounts are verified within one working day. We check that the company exists, that the contact belongs to it and that the requirement profile is plausible; a company website, VAT or registration number and a business email address make that immediate. Urgent and AOG requirements do not have to wait for verification, because the 24/7 desk line runs in parallel with the account check.

The requirement lands with the sourcing desk, which sizes it against aircraft types and approaches operators holding the right approvals for the routing and commodity. You receive options with aircraft type, payload, timing, routing assumptions and an all-in price. Once you accept, we coordinate slots, permits, handling, ULDs and documentation, and keep one point of contact through loading, flight and delivery.

Both. Airport-to-airport is the default, and door-to-door is arranged through vetted trucking and handling partners, including customs clearance, temperature-controlled road feeder services and heavy-lift ground equipment where required. For project cargo we plan the ground legs before the flight, because road permits and crane windows often take longer to secure than the aircraft.

Changes to dates, routing or cargo are possible up to a point, but the closer the departure, the more of the operator's committed cost is already sunk. Cancellation terms are stated in the offer and typically move in steps as the departure approaches. Tell us early if a load date is slipping, because rescheduling is almost always cheaper than cancelling and rebooking.

Yes. Time-critical and AOG requirements are handled around the clock, because an aircraft on ground or a stopped production line does not wait for the next working day. For those cases, call the desk directly rather than filling in a form, and send the technical details afterwards.

Access ranges from PC-12 and turboprops for regional and time-critical movements, through B737F, B757F and A300F for narrowbody sectors, to B767F, A330F, B747F and B777F on intercontinental lanes, plus IL-76 and Antonov types for outsize and infrastructure-limited operations. Availability always depends on route, payload, airport compatibility and regulatory acceptance for the commodity. The right aircraft is the smallest one that carries the load safely on the required sector.

The Antonov An-124 is the largest freighter routinely available on the commercial charter market, with nose and rear loading, an onboard crane system and a hold that accepts pieces no standard freighter can take. Availability is limited and lead times are longer, so where a piece fits a B747F the B747F is usually faster and cheaper. Choice follows the piece list, not the specification sheet.

Roughly 100 to 130 tonnes depending on variant, sector length and fuel uplift, with a main deck that accepts tall and long pieces and, on nose-loading variants, items that cannot be turned inside the hold. The usable payload for your mission is always lower than the brochure figure once fuel for the required range is loaded. We confirm the achievable payload against the actual routing before quoting.

Nose loading is available on B747 freighter variants and on the An-124, and rear ramp loading on the IL-76, An-12 and military-derived types. It matters for long pieces such as blades, pipes, fuselage sections and rail components that cannot be rotated inside the cabin. Where nose loading is not available, the piece must fit through the side cargo door at its diagonal, which is a stricter constraint than most shippers expect.

Send length, width, height and weight per piece, plus the centre of gravity and lifting points for anything heavy. We check it against main-deck door dimensions, contour limits, floor loading in kilograms per square metre and the loading method available at both airports. A piece that fits geometrically can still fail on floor strength or on the equipment available on the ramp, so both checks are done before the offer.

A ULD is a unit load device, either a pallet with a net or a container, used to build cargo into stable, loadable units. Main-deck operations usually require ULD build-up to a defined contour, and pallet availability at the origin airport is a real planning factor on remote stations. For loose or oddly shaped cargo we plan build-up, lashing and tie-down with the handling agent in advance.

Air freight uses the greater of actual gross weight and volumetric weight, with volumetric weight commonly calculated as length by width by height in centimetres divided by 6000. Charter pricing works differently, because you pay for the aircraft rather than per kilogram, but the same volume-versus-weight logic decides which aircraft is efficient for your cargo. Light, bulky cargo runs out of volume before payload, which usually points to a larger main deck rather than a heavier one.

ACMI stands for Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance. The lessor provides those four elements and operates the flights under its own certificate, while the lessee pays for fuel, airport and ATC charges, ground handling and permits. It is the standard structure when an airline, integrator or forwarder needs capacity for a period rather than a single flight, and it is usually contracted against guaranteed monthly block hours.

In a wet lease the aircraft comes with crew, maintenance and insurance, and the flights are operated under the lessor's air operator certificate. In a dry lease only the aircraft is supplied, and the lessee crews, maintains, insures and operates it under its own certificate. A wet lease can start in weeks, a dry lease requires the lessee to hold the operational and regulatory capability itself, so the choice is driven as much by licensing as by economics.

A damp lease sits between the two: the lessor supplies the aircraft and flight crew, while the lessee provides cabin crew or certain operational elements. In freighter operations the term is used loosely, so the important step is defining exactly which crew, maintenance and insurance obligations sit on each side. We put that split in writing before the contract, not after.

From a few weeks of seasonal peak cover to multi-year programmes, subject to regulatory scope in the operating jurisdictions and to the lessor's own fleet planning. Short-term cover is typically priced with a higher hourly rate and a lower guaranteed block hour commitment, while long programmes trade rate against volume and duration. European operations additionally sit under wet-lease approval rules that must be checked for the specific routing.

Guaranteed block hours are the minimum number of flight hours per month the lessee pays for, whether or not they are flown. They exist because the lessor commits an aircraft, a crew rotation and maintenance capacity to your operation and cannot resell that capacity. Setting them realistically against your planned frequency is the single biggest lever on ACMI economics.

Aircraft type or capacity category, route or network, planned start date and duration, guaranteed monthly block hours, frequency and sector pattern, required payload, crew basing and rotation assumptions, the split of handling and fuel responsibilities, and the regulatory context in the countries involved. With that we can approach operators that hold the right approvals rather than testing the whole market. Send an RFP document if you already have one.

Yes. Airlines and integrators use us for sub-charter and ad-hoc capacity when their own fleet is committed, a rotation goes technical or a peak exceeds planned capacity. The requirement is handled with the same confidentiality as any other mandate, and operator identities are not disclosed to third parties.

Many can, subject to IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, the operator's own acceptance policy, the states overflown and the handling capability at both airports. Charter is often the only realistic route for classes and quantities that scheduled carriers will not accept, because the aircraft carries no other consignment. Acceptance is confirmed per operator and per routing, never assumed from the class alone.

UN number, proper shipping name, class and division, packing group, net and gross quantity per package, packaging specification and the shipper's declaration. For lithium batteries we also need the state of charge, the cell or battery type and whether they are shipped standalone, packed with equipment or contained in equipment. Send the safety data sheet early, because it decides which operators can even bid.

Yes in many configurations, and charter is frequently used precisely because scheduled capacity for standalone batteries is limited. The determining factors are UN number, watt-hour rating, state of charge, packaging and the operator's own approval. Battery shipments require lead time for acceptance, so start the conversation before the goods are packed rather than after.

The shipper is legally responsible for correct classification, packing, marking, labelling and documentation. We coordinate acceptance with the operator and handling agent and flag anything that will not pass, but we cannot classify the goods on your behalf. Incorrect declarations are the most common cause of a load being rejected at the ramp.

Through the packaging solution and the ground process, not just the aircraft. Active containers hold a defined temperature range under their own power, passive solutions rely on validated insulation and phase-change material for a stated duration, and the aircraft hold provides a controlled but not precision environment. The risk sits on the ramp and in transit, so cool dolly, limited tarmac exposure and a short handover chain matter more than the flight itself.

Standard pharmaceutical ranges of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, 15 to 25 degrees Celsius controlled ambient, frozen at minus 20 degrees Celsius and deep frozen with dry ice are all routinely moved. The constraint is usually the dry ice quantity permitted on the specific aircraft and the availability of temperature-controlled storage at the transit or destination station. Both are checked before the aircraft is confirmed.

We source operators and handling agents with the relevant good distribution practice capability and pharma-certified facilities where the lane offers them, and we specify the required handling in writing to every party in the chain. Certification varies by station, so on lanes where a certified facility does not exist we design the process around minimal exposure and continuous monitoring instead. The gaps are named in the offer rather than glossed over.

Yes, with data loggers or real-time telemetry, depending on the container solution and the airline's policy on transmitting devices. Real-time monitoring is standard on high-value clinical and biologic shipments and allows intervention while the shipment is still recoverable. Logger data should be part of the release documentation, not an afterthought.

Perishable charters are built around cool chain continuity and turnaround speed: pre-cooled cargo, minimal tarmac time, ventilated build-up and a short unloading window at destination. Series charters are common on lanes such as East Africa to Europe or South America to North America, where volumes justify a fixed weekly rotation. The commercial case is usually made on shelf life at arrival rather than on freight rate.

Yes, and this is one of the main uses of series and ACMI structures. Valentine's and Mother's Day flower peaks, harvest windows, fashion seasons and e-commerce quarters are planned as programmes with fixed frequency and guaranteed capacity. Booking early secures aircraft that will not be available at short notice during the peak itself.

Yes. Horses, breeding livestock, zoo animals and pets are moved by charter under IATA Live Animals Regulations, with stalls or containers, attendants, veterinary documentation and health certificates. The planning covers loading equipment, ventilation, temperature, flight duration, rest requirements and quarantine arrangements at destination. Equestrian and specialist live-animal work is led by our specialist brand, Cavalry Air.

Typically a veterinary health certificate, import permit, CITES documentation where the species requires it, identification papers and, for horses, passport and blood test results within the validity window required by the destination country. Requirements differ by species and country pair and change more often than most shippers expect. Start the documentation before booking, because paperwork, not aircraft, is the usual cause of delay.

AOG stands for Aircraft on Ground: a commercial aircraft is grounded because a part is missing, and every hour costs the operator crew, slots, passenger recovery and reputation. AOG charters move the part and, where required, the engineers with it, from a few kilograms of avionics to a complete engine on its stand. Speed is a function of permits and handling as much as of aircraft availability.

Yes. Engines travel on their transport stands and are usually flown on main-deck freighters, with the type selected against stand dimensions, weight and the loading equipment available at both airports. Nose-loading aircraft help where stand height or length is critical. Engine movements need the stand drawing and weight up front, because those numbers decide the aircraft.

With an aircraft nearby and a routing without permit complications, departure within a few hours is realistic, and same-day delivery on regional sectors is routine. Long-haul and permit-heavy routings take longer, typically 12 to 24 hours, because overflight clearances and crew duty rules cannot be shortcut. Calling the desk immediately, even before all details are final, buys more time than a complete form sent an hour later.

Yes. Line-down charters are planned against the production restart time, not the flight time, so trucking at both ends, customs clearance and unloading capacity are built into the plan from the start. For plants with recurring risk we pre-agree airports, handling agents and aircraft options so a launch decision can be made in minutes rather than hours.

The operator applies for the permits, and we coordinate the process, track the approvals and escalate where a state is slow. Lead times differ sharply by country, from a few hours to several working days, and some states require additional documentation for military-related, dangerous or humanitarian cargo. Permit timelines, not aircraft availability, are the most common reason an urgent departure slips.

An air waybill, packing list, commercial or proforma invoice, and depending on the commodity a dangerous goods declaration, veterinary or phytosanitary certificate, CITES permit, export licence or certificate of origin. For project cargo, drawings and lifting instructions travel with the operational file. Missing paperwork stops cargo at the ramp far more often than technical problems do.

Yes, through customs brokers on both ends of the lane, either as part of a door-to-door scope or coordinated alongside an airport-to-airport charter. Clearance is arranged in advance for time-critical movements so the aircraft is not waiting on documentation. For temporary imports, carnets and re-export cases we plan the customs path before the flight is confirmed.

The operator carries hull and legal liability insurance, which is not the same as cargo insurance. Liability for cargo is limited under the Montreal Convention, so high-value shipments should carry a separate all-risk cargo policy. We will state what the operator's cover includes and arrange cargo insurance on request.

By air operator certificate and its scope, insurance cover, safety record and audit status, approvals for the specific commodity, fleet suitability for the routing and demonstrated performance on comparable missions. Operators that fail on documentation, communication or reliability do not return to the shortlist. The selection is made per mission, not from a fixed panel.

A single place to submit requirements, track their status, receive aircraft options, exchange documents and see your requirement history. Your company profile, cargo types and typical lanes are stored once, so repeat requests take minutes instead of restating the whole operation. Access is limited to your company's users.

Registered businesses: freight forwarders, logistics providers, manufacturers, airlines, integrators, government and humanitarian organisations and their appointed agents. We ask for company details, a business email address and a VAT or registration number where applicable. Private individuals looking for passenger aviation are directed to our group's private aviation brand instead.

We share only what an operator needs to price and accept the mission: routing, dates, cargo characteristics and handling requirements. Your company identity is not disclosed unless the operation requires it, for example for customs or security purposes, and never for marketing. Operator identities and internal sourcing details are likewise not disclosed to you before the contract stage.

Account and requirement data is held in an EU-hosted database with row-level access controls, so users see only their own company's records. We do not run advertising trackers on this site and we do not sell data. Details of retention, processors and your rights are set out in the privacy statement.

Yes. Colleagues register with their own business email and are linked to the same company profile, so requirements, documents and options stay visible across the team rather than in one person's inbox. That matters on 24/7 operations where the person who raised the requirement may not be the one who receives the aircraft options.