Air Transportation

Depending on the destination of air transportation or the nature of the cargo, the list of accompanying documents required for air transportation may vary.

The list of such documents includes:

• Airway bill of lading (issued by the shipper or its agent, confirms the existence of a contract between the carrier and the shipper for air transportation services by the carrier's transportation company)
• Issued export declaration (a document issued when cargo is exported out of the country and confirms the export of goods)
• Invoice/invoice (document containing information about the cost of goods)
• Packing list (in addition to the invoice, contains a list of cargo items with data on packaging, dimensions and weights of each item).
• Dangerous Goods Declaration (issued when transporting goods that fall under the definition of "dangerous" according to the rules of transportation of dangerous goods)

Both have their pros and cons. On a direct flight departure is usually faster. A direct flight with no connections is charged more than a connecting flight. The delivery time without connections is less than one day. Often, direct flights do not depart daily, especially after the COVID-19 epidemic when many airlines withdrew from the market. Commercial load is decreasing, and it is not economically profitable to send half-empty flights.

It is cheaper to send cargo on connecting flights. This is due to the fact that on each subsequent connecting flight we make additional load, respectively, it is more profitable for each carrier on the entire chain of connecting shipments. The main disadvantage is that the transit time can be several days and sometimes weeks. This is due to the fact that when sending on the first shoulder, we did not have time for a connecting flight in another country, which leaves, for example, once a week and therefore the delivery time is automatically increased by another 7 days. Accordingly, no airline is responsible for such shifts, as it is considered as force majeure.

Compared to containerized transportation, air transportation often has stricter restrictions on the weight and dimensions of cargo items. They largely depend on the type of aircraft, which are divided into passenger and cargo aircraft.
Although, based on the name, one might assume that passenger aircraft are designed to carry only passengers and their luggage, there is plenty of room for commercial cargo as well. Nevertheless, the ability of passenger airplanes to be loaded with commercial cargo is far inferior to cargo airplanes. However, on popular transportation routes, mainly international ones, wide-body aircrafts are also used, which allow loading cargo with much larger dimensions, both in height, up to 170 cm, and in length.

When it comes to the transportation of oversized cargo, it is often cargo planes designed or specially modified for cargo transportation that are required. Often passenger airplanes that no longer meet safety or noise requirements are converted into cargo airplanes, but there are also specially designed cargo models. Due to the absence of a passenger cabin as such, almost the entire interior space of a cargo airplane is used for loading. Cargo hatches of such airplanes have very significant parameters and allow to take on board the most oversized cargoes, both in terms of height and length.