Air Freight & Air Cargo Shipping: Air Freight Charges, Rates, Costs & Quotes

Sea freight accounts for 90 percent of all shipments.

It’s relatively cheap and reliable.

But when you need your cargo yesterday, air freight may be your best option.

In this article, you’ll learn how air freight works, when you should use it, and how to find the best prices.

International and Express Air Freight Rates Per Kilogram

Air freight is used when global importers and exporters need to get their goods to a location quickly and reliably. 90% of goods are shipped by sea, while air freight connects the world faster, reducing the time to ship goods between the US and China from 20-30 days by sea to 3 days by air.

Air freight is used when global importers and exporters need to get their goods to a location quickly and reliably. 90% of goods are shipped by sea, while air freight connects the world faster, reducing shipping times from 20-30 days by sea to 3 days by air.

International air freight and express freight are not the same thing.

Express air freight is usually handled by a single company (such as DHL, UPS or FedEx) for the entire freight lifecycle, with a transit time of less than 5 days from door to door. These express air freight shipments are typically smaller than air freight (less than 1 cubic meter and 200 kg).

In a typical season, international air freight rates range from approximately $2.50-$5.00 per kilogram, depending on the type of shipment you are shipping and the space available.

International air freight shipments can be much larger and may move between multiple carriers during transit. In fact, the largest cargo aircraft, the Anatov 225, can fit an entire train.

Looking for a freight quote for your next shipment – get an instant freight quote!

Air Freight Rates and Costs

When it comes to air freight, weight and volume are key factors. Airlines are normally charging by volume weight (aka dimensional weight) or actual weight, depending on which is higher.

The general rule for air freight is to calculate the volume weight is to multiply the volume of the item (cubic meters) by 167. Volume is the volume of a package that is W: 40cm, H: 40cm L: 40 will have a 0.064 (the product of all aspects divided by a million). Multiply by 167 to get a volume weight of 10.67 kg. You can use this online tool to calculate the chargeable weight. 

If the volume weight is higher than the actual weight, the volume weight will be used as the chargeable weight. 

In a typical season, air freight from China to the United States costs approximately $2.50-$5.00 per kilogram, depending on the type of cargo you are shipping and the space available.

The Benefits of Air Freight

There are three considerations you should keep in mind to determine when you should ship by air

• Speed – Think about the 5 days it takes to get from a factory in China to a warehouse in the US. An airplane is 30 times faster than an ocean liner. Airliners cruise at 575 mph, while slow ocean liners travel at 16-18 mph. Use this transit time calculator, based on recent real cargo data, to get an estimated transit time for air cargo. According to the World Bank, air freight is generally five times more expensive than trucking and 16 times more expensive than ocean freight.
• Reliability – People are more discerning than packages, which has encouraged the freight market to develop more reliable freight services, and coupled with better air freight data movement, air freight provides better air freight tracking and the knowledge that your cargo will be in the right place at the right time.
• Protection – While ocean piracy is decreasing, cargo is more likely to be damaged in ocean freight than air freight.

When shouldn’t you ship by air?

There are three considerations you should keep in mind to determine when you should not ship by air

• Cost – Simply put, air freight is expensive. Comparing air freight to ocean freight, a medium-sized 2,000-pound box from Shenzhen, China, to New York, USA, costs $1,200 by ocean freight, but up to $4,000 by air freight.
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions – Of course, air freight also leads to more emissions. For example, according to a British government study, shipping 5,000 kilometers by sea would result in 150 kilograms of CO2 emissions for 2 tons of cargo, compared to 6,605 kilograms of CO2 emissions for air freight. Definitely not the greenest way to transport.
• Heavy cargo – Since the 1960s, freight has revolved around containers, which are well suited to transporting large, heavy items. Air freight is priced based on size and weight, which can adjust prices very quickly.

What goods are typically shipped via air freight?

Because air freight rates are outrageously expensive, they are usually limited to smaller, high-value shipments or time-sensitive items such as.

• Steve Jobs famously purchased all available air cargo capacity on major Asia-US routes to ship his first iMac before the holiday season.
• Seasonal trends in apparel can shift quickly. As a result, companies often need to get apparel from the factory to the store as quickly as possible. Again, the small size and high value of apparel make it a good trade-off.
• Pharmaceutical products are often shipped by air because of their small size and pretty high value.
• Documents and small Samples. Fedex, DHL, UPS are your normal way to ship any type of documents and smaller size shipments including product samples. Due to our exclusive discounts with these carriers, we can save you quite a bit if we arrange these small packages and envelopes for you.
• Seasonal shipping. No matter what the product, if there is high international demand and a need to support the supply chain down the road, airfreight is generally the way to go.

Air Freight Services, Freight Rates and Charges

In addition to the air freight charges based on the above costs, air freight charges may include

• Fuel surcharges
• Security surcharges
• Container freight terminal/terminal handling charges
• Airport transfers

In addition, for door-to-door charges, the price will also include air cargo services, including.

• Customs brokerage
• Pickup and delivery
• Cargo insurance
• Additional charges

Are international air freight quotes and air freight prices changing?

International air cargo usage is growing slowly, with top global freight forwarders growing less than 1% in 2015, according to Transport Intelligence. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said air cargo growth reached only 2.2 percent in 2015, down from 5 percent in 2014. 

Driven by massive ocean freight overcapacity, ocean freight rates are getting cheaper, with reductions of up to 75 percent on key routes. On the other hand, strong growth in air passenger traffic is driving operators to build more and more aircraft. As a result, there is more belly cargo space – the space underneath where air cargo is stored. However, this means that less than half of the air cargo capacity is being utilized.

The result of air cargo is that most companies that need to import are doing everything they can to take advantage of cheap ocean freight offers, leaving only the most urgent cargo for air freight.