The air transport process further explained
The goods (or consolidations) are received at the airline’s handling agent warehouse.
Air France Cargo handling (Boeing 747)
.
The handling agent will often be a separate company contracted by the airline, but cargo handling can also be an in-house function of the airline, especially at a major hub
- Examples of separate handling agents are: Aviance, Aviapartner, Menzies Aviation, Servisair, Swissport Cargo Services, WFS - Worldwide Flight Services, etc.
Also the airlines often offer their in-house cargo handling as a commercial service to other airlines. • The handling agent takes care of the air cargo handling at the airport, to and from the aircraft.
Depending on the kind of goods, destination (flight number) and urgency, delivery at the handling agent has to be done within a certain norm-time before departure (TBD) of the aircraft, also called a slot or a slot-time.
The whole physical air transport process can be pictured by the following steps:
A variant in the air cargo process can be to get to the destination in two or more steps instead of one, then the shipment goes into a transit:
In case of a transit shipment the process in between the flights will look like this:
Or in some special cases or high priority cargo services, if the connection time allows, the transit process can even look like this:
Besides the physical handling, other important functions of the handling agent are:
- To control the overall weight & balance of the airline’s aircraft on the cargo side, make a load sheet and assure flight safety (view a video explaining weight & balance here on CargoHub.nl or find another weight & balance explanation here on the Free Online Private Pilot Ground School ; are you wondering how to weigh a plane? check it out here at KLM's blog),
- To make a cargo manifest for all the goods on board, for the airline’s import and export declaration to customs
- This is a high level customs declaration as opposed to detailed customs declaration by the forwarder or customs agent
- To make a notification to the captain of the aircraft (NOTOC) to inform the crew about potential risks of the cargo on board in case of emergencies (dangerous goods, live animals, valuables, etc.), as well as for the right conditioning (temperature) of the cargo holds
- To plan & control bookings, slot-times, goods flows in the warehouse, and ULD and flight bag flows from and to the aircraft in order to prevent delays and assure correct execution of the airline’s time-table
- To plan & control worldwide ULD stock
The incoming checks before loading and departure of the aircraft are of vital importance for the airline as well as rest of the process :
- Commercial checks
- According to booking
- Correct weights, numbers and volumes of colli indicated
- Logistics checks
- Delivered RFC
- Flight safety checks
- Correct weights, numbers and volumes of colli indicated
- Correct and undamaged packaging
- Potentially hazardous materials declared and correctly labelled and visible
- Correct and complete documents and labels
- Security checks
- Known shipper and forwarder declared
- Correct and undamaged packaging
- Correct and complete documents and labels
Next the goods and documents are separately handled, sorted for destination + outgoing flight number.
- Goods and documents are administratively connected by means of labels
- Documents are administrated and temporarily stored
- Goods are handled and temporarily stored
At a certain TBD the building of the ULD’s for the flight will start, and the documents will be gathered in the flight bag.
- ULD = Unit Load Device = standardized air cargo loading equipment, e.g.
- Main deck pallets
- Lower deck pallets
- Lower deck containers
- Animal stables or containers
- Security containers
- Environmentally controlled containers
ULD’s are designed to fit exactly in different aircraft types, and are considered part of the aircraft structure during flight. Find out more about the different types of ULD's here on WikiPedia , here on CargoHub or here on BA World Cargo. Or take a look at CargoComposites' Guide to Air Freight Containers (ULD's).
Now the ULD’s and documents are transported to the aircraft at the ramp.
The ULD’s are loaded in the aircraft at the planned positions, and the flight bag, including cargo manifest and NOTOC’s, is handed over to the crew.
Air Cargo loading
Alitalia Cargo Loading at KIX
The cargo doors are shut, and the aircraft is now ready for departure.
During flight the crew will control the temperature in the aircraft cargo holds according to NOTOC or load sheet ; in most aircraft the temperature and air circulation of the cargo compartments can be set per compartment. In case a steady cool temperature is required for the transport, containers with cooling equipment, insulation equipment or dry-ice can be used. Look here for an example document about air freight / cold chain handling opf perishables.
In case of transport of bigger live animals (like horses or elephants), an animal attendant may fly on board and check and look after the animals during flight ; airlines that deliver these services, will often also have special areas at the airport where the animals or pets are taken care of before or after the flight.
In case of transport of bigger live animals (like horses or elephants), an animal attendant may fly on board and check and look after the animals during flight ; airlines that deliver these services, will often also have special areas at the airport where the animals or pets are taken care of before or after the flight.
Normally, at a certain time before arrival (TBA), the handling agent at origin will now inform or pre-alert the airline’s handling agent at destination about the shipments and flight details. This enables the receiving handling agent to prepare receipt of the shipment, e.g. by planning the breakdown priority of the ULD’s to ensure a smooth and fast flow of the shipments through the next steps. This pre-alert is the freight forwarding message
(FFM).
At the airport of destination, the cargo and flight bag will go through the whole process again, but then ‘in reversal’.
Lan Cargo ground handling and dispatch
At receipt of the ULD’s and flight bag in the warehouse and office, the handling agent will inform the receiving forwarding agent that the shipment has arrived and the documents can be picked up.
The manifest is cleared for customs when all individual shipments have been cleared and picked-up by the forwarder.
Not all air cargo travels in ULD’s ; smaller cargo packages can also be carried as loose cargo in the belly of the aircraft, just like the passenger’s luggage. Air mail for example, is often carried in mail-bags as loose cargo in the belly hold. Loading, unloading and handling loose cargo can be much faster than the the ULD process but it is also less efficient, and requires different handling equipment ; therefore loose cargo is often used for the urgent or highest priority cargo products, and in practice only on narrow-body aircraft.
Finally it is the airline's responsibility to handle claims on behalf of the customer (=forwarder) in case goods are damaged or lost in the A2A process.
Hong Kong Air Cargo Handling Terminal Automation System for Live Animals, Dangrous Goods and Fragile Goods
Source: Air France Cargo
I invite all of you in the industry to contact me for corrections or additions,
and who are new in the business to question me
in order to improve the information on this site!
go back to: Start Page >>>
go back to: Forwarding out >>>
go one step deeper into this process: Air Transport 2 >>>
move on to the next process step: Forwarding in >>>
go one step deeper into this process: Air Transport 2 >>>
move on to the next process step: Forwarding in >>>
