The Pros and Cons of Air Freight for Your Business

Every company has its own unique needs when it comes to freight and logistics solutions, as there are many factors that influence one’s shipping requirements and the freight solutions that are available to fulfil them. New Horizon Freight Solution wants to guide our clients through the strengths and weaknesses of various forms of shipping so that they can make informed decisions. In this blog, we will look at the pros and cons of air freight to guide your decision-making process.

Pro: Air Freight is Timeous

Air freight is generally regarded as the fastest means of shipping products across country and internationally. If your company needs to move its product quickly – whether to improve service levels or to keep fresh product in the best condition – then air freight is the fastest possible shipping solution for your company.

Pro: Air Freight has Extensive Global Reach

A unique advantage of air freight is that your company can ship its products to virtually anywhere in the world. Landscape obstructions do not encumber air freight, which means that airplanes can reach a vast majority of areas across the globe, regardless of unfriendly, varied terrain. Other modes of shipping pale against air freight in this respect.

Pro: Highly Accurate Shipping Dates with Air Freight

Air freight is one of the most reliable methods of shipping, with an incredibly low late arrival rate and even lower flight cancellation rates over the years, particularly in comparison to other shipping methods. Overnight delivery services exist due to this highly reliable shipping method. With constant and highly reliable shipments going out via air freight, your company’s delivery dates will remain competitive, and you will avoid bottlenecking.

Pro: Increased Safety of Goods with Air Freight

To round out the pros of air freight, we want to highlight the reduced risk of damage to goods that is prevalent with this mode of shipping. With any method there is at least a small amount of unavoidable risk, such as malfunctions, crashes and so on. Apart from these minimal risks, air freight is one of the most safe and secure means of shipping your goods across the globe, as airport regulations ensure proper handling, storing and securing of packages takes place.

Con: A Costly Shipping Solution

Unfortunately, air freight is considered the most costly method of shipping. For companies that wish to ship lower-value goods, it is perhaps better to consider alternative freight methods such as sea freight. With that said, high-value goods are entirely suitable for air freight.

Con: Size and Weight Limitations

When compared to other methods of shipping, airplanes are relatively small and limited in their capacity. In passenger planes, cargo has the lowest boarding priority, and even the largest cargo plane – AN-225 – can lift a mere 250 tons. In this way, cargo shipped via air freight will need to be within the rules and guidelines set out for air travel.

Con: Inclement Weather Causes Delays

Unfortunately, air freight is largely at the mercy of Mother Nature. Whilst inclement weather can cause issues for land and sea freight as well, it is a much larger issues for air freight due to the complex nature of aerodynamics, visibility and navigation. Although a small percentage of flights are cancelled on an annual basis, it would be naïve to ignore the potential impact inclement weather can have on a company’s air freight endeavours.

Shipping with New Horizon Freight Solution

New Horizon Freight Solution offers a variety of shipping and logistics solutions to meet your unique requirements. You can peruse our service here for an in-depth look at our shipping solutions. Our blog page is home to a number of interesting and informative shipping, freight, logistics, and trade articles, and we encourage you to read them. Contact us to discuss your freight needs and how we can fulfil them!