Courier services worldwide use passenger, cargo and, combo aircraft to transport goods of their clients. Passenger aircraft carry goods in their belly which is located below where passengers sit in the aircraft. Courier services also employ couriers who carry important documents of their customers in the passenger area of an aircraft as well and this employee knows about the import and export regulation of the country where the documents or small good being carried in this manner.
Cargo aircraft are specifically designed to carry cargos. In the belly, in the nose, in the side of a cargo aircraft is so designed they can be opened when loading and unloading goods from them. Combo aircraft also carry goods in the main deck and its belly. There are postal companies which use airmails up to 30 kg of weight and this type of companies mostly outsourced their works. Then there are international courier services that outsource their courier assignments to other airlines.
International express companies use their own air cargo aircraft and they outsource some of their works to other airlines. Air cargo forwarders too outsource their works to airlines, air charter companies. Shippers control the all procedure of air cargo forwarding. Most of the customers store their goods at shippers’ warehouses and the shippers are responsible to transport it from point A to B. All these activities are defined in the delivery terms or Incoterms.
Incoterms agreement is signed between owner of the goods, buyer, seller, maintenance company, distributor, transport company, courier service, forwarder and so on. One important cog in the air cargo carrying process is forwarder or expeditor. Normally, a forwarder has IATA accreditation to be in the field. This agent should be financially steady and possesses sufficient air cargo potential. A forwarder or agent must have capacity to handle air cargo procedure effectively and trained staff in air cargo handling including dangerous goods. The forwarder must use air way bills as well.
Air cargo/air freight handling is a long process that only those who have experience of the process should carry out. In Sri Lanka, courier companies such as Courier.lk, Parcel.lk, GTV Enterprises are experts in handling air cargo/airfreight on behalf of their customers and clients. They are well experienced in preparing necessary documentations, reserving air spaces in major airlines, shipping lines, and land cargos.
Courier.lk boasts fleet of refrigerated vehicles, state of the art warehouses, automated sorting, labelling, delivering systems etc., to store any type of goods including perishables. For important courier services that a courier is necessary, Courier.lk provides expert couriers for travelling with assigned goods in passenger aircraft. Businesspersons and individuals hundred percent rely on Courier.lk and select them for arranging their air cargo/air freight.