A bit about the structure of the Air Freight Industry

A bit about the structure of the Air Freight Industry.

The air freight industry consists of a number of different commercial organisations who provide shippers with through freight services. Such organisations can be found mainly in the private sector and operate in a very highly competitive market. Now lets look at what the air freight industry structure is made up of.

1. Airports
These will generally act as landlords and infrastructure providers. They will charge air freight services landing fees and stand rentals (parking fees), cargo transit sheds along with air craft maintenance workshops. Many air freight companies will now have their own section of the airports that is specifically dedicated to their company requirements and will have a specialist team that is dedicated to dealing with all matters relating to customs etc in order to move goods quickly and efficiently.

2. Airlines
These are the suppliers of air cargo capacity into and out of the UK and are either scheduled operators, charter operator, freight operators or integrated carriers. The air freight operators are those operators who operate freight only aircraft (so do not take passengers).

3. Air Freight Forwarders
They provide a service to shippers and importers which originally involved receiving a consignment of freight and then arranging its routing, transportation, handling and documentation to either the final receiver or another foreign airport. The role of this service has developed over the last few years and the largest forwarders are now describing themselves as logistic providers instead.

4. General Sales Agents
These are normally appointed by some of the airlines (either scheduled or charter) and their job is to sell air freight capacity on behalf of the clients and this allows airlines to avoid the high costs related to sales and marketing.

5. Transit Shed Operators
They will provide a transit handling service to air freight companys and freight forwarders and the sole function is to receive cargo from aircraft then to de-palletise and deliver to a truck or vice versas to put it into a transit shed whilst it awaits customs clearance.

Hopefully the information tha thas been provided above will give you a better understanding of what exactly the air freight industry is and how it works in order to make sure all goods sent by this method arrive safely and quickly at their destinations.