Guide to Air Freight and Cargo for Small Business

By definition, air cargo transport is a wide business category

Nearly every passenger airline has a air cargo company division these days (all that extra baggage room means more money) and there are hundreds of air cargo companies as well. Booking common carrier shipping space is first a matter of finding a company going your route, then getting bids.

I recommend: See exhaustive lists of air cargo carriers at  International Air Transport Association, International Air Cargo Association, Air Cargo World or by country at AZFreight.com. See, too, the air cargo listings at Business.com.

Air cargo is, increasingly, a job for global parcel shippers

Once up on time, express air courier services focused mostly on letters and contracts, expecting to one-up the post office on speed. As competitors have poured in (and the Postal Service got more serious), they have branched out into domestic and international air cargo. Air courier companies now handle bigger packages, do customs work and provide all manner of tracking, insurance and logistics services.

I recommend: Some of the major names in express package delivery that also have full-fledged air freight and air cargo transport service include DHL, UPS, TNT, Federal Express. Even (to a degree) the United States Postal Service has gotten into the act. See additional air freight and air cargo company choices at the Business.com directory on air courier companies.

Hiring help with air freight and air cargo jobs

If your supply chain is global or complex, or even if it's domestic and hard to manage, you can offload a lot of the air cargo transport management to professionals who do third-party logistics and to freight forwarders who work to get your goods coming or going on time, in time.

I recommend: Some of the better known providers of logistics support include  Kuehne + Nagel, APL Logistics, Bax Global, Cardinal Logistics and Panalpina, as well as logistics divisions of major couriers like DHL, UPS, TNT, and Federal Express. See more on intermediaries in the air freight and air cargo business on the Business.com pages on  air cargo industry third-party logistics and freight forwarders.

Sending cargo, air, land or ocean, often means crossing borders

The part of the air freight and air cargo equation that usually kills a supply chain -- and drains out profit -- is getting through stuff through Customs. Air freight transportation has definitely not gotten easier since heightened U.S. security restrictions after Sept. 11, either.

I recommend: There are thousands of individual Customs brokers (or companies, called Customs brokerages) doing the work of making sure your imports and exports meet U.S. federal laws regulating the air cargo industry and promulgated by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. See a member directory at the National Customs Broker and Forwarders Association of America. Your courier or third-party logistics expert probably already has a regular Customs broker or provides the service. There's more information on customs brokers for air cargo transport at Business.com.