Air freight
Air freight for cargo that cannot wait, guarded on the ground
Air freight is fast in the sky and slow on the ground. Most delays on an air movement happen in a warehouse, not at 38,000 feet. CargoVault builds the schedule around the ground handling, keeps custody tight at every terminal, and pre-clears the paperwork so the aircraft is not the only part of the journey that moves quickly.
Typical transit
1–5 days door to door
Best for
Urgent, high-value, temperature-sensitive
Services
Next flight out, consolidated, charter on request
Cover
All-risk, cold-chain data logging available
How it works
Every stage, start to signature
Uplift planning
We book against a specific flight — next-flight-out for critical freight, or a consolidated service where the saving matters more than the hours. You are told the airline, the flight, the cut-off and the realistic recovery time at destination, so your own downstream planning is based on facts rather than a marketing promise.
Build-up, screening and security
Cargo is screened to the regime of the departure country before it is built onto a pallet or into a container. Because our facilities operate under known-consignor discipline, your goods are screened once, correctly, rather than pulled apart at the airport because paperwork did not match the load. Each build-up is photographed, netted, weighed and tagged to your reference.
The flight leg
The dashboard tracks the aircraft leg with a live progress position, and every handling milestone the airline reports — received from shipper, manifested, departed, arrived, notified — is written into your timeline as its own checkpoint. Transit stops on multi-sector routings appear individually, so a bag of freight sitting overnight in a hub is visible instead of hidden inside a single 'in transit' line.
Recovery and final mile
Our agent recovers the shipment from the airline terminal as soon as it is available, not on the next convenient run. Customs entries are pre-lodged against the master air waybill, so in most corridors the goods clear while they are still being broken down. Final delivery is by our own courier network with signature and photo proof.
Why it is safe with CargoVault
Security you can audit, not just be promised
High value never travels anonymously
Pharmaceuticals, electronics, documents and high-value goods move under a named handling plan: tamper-evident packaging, sealed pouches where appropriate, restricted-access storage between legs and a two-person handover at each transfer. Nothing sits on an open dock waiting for someone to notice it.
Temperature and condition integrity
Active and passive cold-chain solutions are specified for the actual route rather than the shortest one, allowing for tarmac exposure and hub dwell time. Data loggers travel with the shipment and the readout is attached to the delivery record, so you can prove the chain held rather than hope it did.
Compliance that prevents seizures
The fastest way to lose a week on an air shipment is a wrong tariff code, a missing licence or a badly declared battery. Our brokers classify before the cargo is booked and check restricted-goods rules for both ends of the route. All-risk cover applies from collection through to signature, warehouse dwell included.
What the price includes
Everything below is in the quote, not added later
Lanes on this service
Corridors we run regularly
Frequencies below are the schedules we hold space on. Anything outside this list is still movable — it just starts with a conversation instead of a click.
Heathrow → Lagos
1–3 days · daily
Heathrow → Accra
2–4 days · 5x weekly
Heathrow → Dubai
1–2 days · daily
Heathrow → New York (JFK)
1–2 days · daily
Stansted → Frankfurt & Milan
24–48 hrs · daily
Heathrow → Toronto
2–5 days · daily
Straight talk
What people get wrong about this service
“Air freight is only for emergencies”
For high-value goods, air is often the cheaper total cost once you count capital tied up in stock, warehousing and the risk of missing a selling window. A consolidated air service sits between express courier and ocean on price, and we will model both against your actual order value rather than per-kilo instinct.
“The flight time is the transit time”
Rarely. Screening, build-up, hub dwell, recovery and clearance all add hours, and they are where amateur planning falls apart. We quote realistic door-to-door windows that include ground time, then show each of those ground stages on your timeline as its own checkpoint.
“All air cargo is handled the same way”
Pharmaceuticals, lithium batteries, artwork and documents each carry their own regime, packing rules and paperwork. Treating them alike is how shipments get seized. We specify a handling plan per commodity before the booking is confirmed.
Questions
Answers before you book
What is volumetric weight and why does it matter?
Airlines charge on the greater of actual weight or volume converted to a chargeable weight. Bulky light cargo therefore prices on its size. We measure at collection and tell you the chargeable figure before uplift, so the invoice matches the quote.
Can you ship lithium batteries or aerosols?
Yes, when correctly declared, packed and documented to the current dangerous-goods regime. What we will not do is carry them hidden inside general cargo — that is the risk that grounds aircraft and voids every policy on board.
How late can I book for a same-day flight?
Generally the cargo must reach our facility several hours before airline cut-off for screening and build-up. Call the desk with the postcode and the deadline and we will tell you in minutes whether tonight is realistic.
Is cold chain really maintained end to end?
Active and passive solutions are specified for the whole route, including tarmac exposure and hub dwell, and loggers travel inside the shipment. The readout is attached to your delivery record so you can prove the chain held.
Ready to move something?
Book a collection on this service, see the cost before you commit, and get your tracking number the moment the consignment is sealed.