What is Air Freight Transport?

When speed is your priority, air freight is the solution.

In this world where we need everything by yesterday, air is the ideal solution for moving cargo across the country – or the planet – quickly and safely.

It allows shippers to respond to customers and market demands in the fastest and simplest way. For example, when a component of an automobile assembly line breaks down and the whole line has to stop, air transport is the best way to transport the replacement part, because of the speed of transport, considering the costs of a total stop of production in an assembly line.

It is the kind of transportation that pharmaceutical companies are using right now to ship vaccines, temperature-sensitive immunizations, all over the world. And it’s the medium that major retailers use to get high-value, high-demand electronics products on their shelves as quickly as possible.

Air transport is a critical part of operating an efficient supply chain.

Unless cost is a deciding factor (we will address this in a moment) air transportation has several benefits over land or sea transportation.

Here are five of the biggest benefits :

It is the fastest

Except in extreme weather conditions, air transportation is the fastest mode of transportation.

In air transport, you have the option of getting your cargo to where it needs to go, the same day.

Precise

Not only is air transport fast, it is also precise. Flights for transporting goods depart and arrive at set times and follow these precise schedules, with very few exceptions.

Safer

Air transport is the safest choice for transporting sensitive or high-value goods.
Cargo is checked and closely monitored, with fewer parties involved in the process.

Unless the plane is experiencing adverse weather conditions, airfreight is smoother than truck or sea freight. The likelihood of accidental damage to your goods is significantly reduced.

To almost anywhere in the world

There are about 17,600 commercial airports in the world, but only 885 active ports. This means that final delivery is longer for shipments transported by sea than by air.

For some remote destinations, shipments may take days or weeks to arrive using sea transport. If a delivery point is not close to one of these 885 ports, it may take even longer, with the need for an additional means of transport to get the cargo to its final destination. All these factors increase the risk of damage, theft, or loss.

On the other hand, international airports can put your cargo on a truck or a smaller local plane right after landing. This opens up more transportation options to stay on track for delivery.

Saves Money in the Long Run

Yes, air freight is more expensive at first. But there are several factors that make it more profitable in the long run. But there are several factors that make it more profitable in the long run.

98% of companies report losing at least $100,000 for every hour of downtime. The cost of air transport for a repair or replacement part is nothing compared to the value lost from production downtime.

Air transport needs less heavy packaging and rarely needs to be stored in a container. Your packaging costs are lower and container rental is not necessary.

There is also less overhead with air transport. Because its transportation is expedited, there is no need for storage of the goods. A truck or van picks it up at the airport and takes it to its final destination.

When cargo is transported by sea, arrival times are not as predictable as with air transport. Shipments may arrive ahead of schedule and before the recipient is ready to receive them.

As we think we have illustrated, there are many advantages to choosing to transport goods by air, but choosing the right logistics partner is the only way to maximize those benefits.
You need a reliable logistics partner who understands the importance of your cargo and will get it to where you need it, when you need it.

At WLP – WorldWide Logistics Portugal we work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.