Air Freight Services: Domestic and International Cargo
Express air cargo across India and global corridors, with own-fleet pickup and delivery, in-house customs clearance, and chargeable-weight pricing explained before you book.
Air freight is the right choice when the cost of time exceeds the cost of transport: urgent spares, high-value electronics, pharmaceutical consignments, and export orders against a letter-of-credit deadline. Safe & Secure Logistics books capacity on scheduled carriers for domestic and international lanes, runs pickup and delivery on its own 2,700+ vehicle fleet, and clears international shipments through its in-house customs team. You get one accountable operator from your dock to the consignee’s — with the chargeable-weight arithmetic shown to you before the booking, not discovered on the invoice.
What our air freight service covers
Safe & Secure Group has moved cargo since 1951 and today operates across 320+ locations in 27 states, backed by 70+ warehouses including cold storage. Air freight sits inside that network as the express layer of a genuinely multimodal operation — the same group runs full truckload, rail and multimodal, and ocean freight, so we recommend air only where it earns its premium.
Operationally, an air consignment with us has four legs, and we own or control each one. First mile: pickup from your plant or warehouse on our own fleet, so cut-off times are met without depending on a third-party vendor. Airport handling: booking on scheduled passenger and freighter capacity, security screening, and airline documentation. Customs, for international movements: classification, duty assessment and clearance by our in-house customs and maritime team — the same desk that files for our ocean business. Last mile: delivery from the destination airport to the consignee, with proof of delivery returned to you.
Temperature-sensitive cargo can be staged in our cold storage before uplift and moved to the airport in reefer vehicles from India’s largest private reefer fleet, keeping the cold chain intact up to the aircraft — a capability most air forwarders have to subcontract. See cold chain logistics for the full temperature-controlled offering.
When air beats road and rail on total cost
Per kilogram, air is the most expensive mode. The honest comparison is total landed cost: freight plus inventory carrying cost, stock-out risk, and the commercial cost of delay. On that arithmetic, air wins in specific, predictable situations.
| Situation | Why air wins | When road or rail wins instead |
|---|---|---|
| Production-line stoppage (spares, components) | A day of line downtime typically costs more than the entire air freight bill | Planned replenishment with buffer stock in place |
| High value-to-weight cargo (electronics, instruments, pharma APIs) | Inventory carrying cost of 4-6 days on the road exceeds the air premium; lower handling and theft exposure | Heavy, low-value goods where freight is a large share of landed cost |
| Perishables and short-shelf-life goods | Transit time directly converts to saleable shelf life | Frozen goods with long shelf life — reefer road is far cheaper |
| Export deadlines (LC expiry, vessel cut-off missed, seasonal orders) | The penalty or lost order dwarfs the freight difference | Orders with comfortable lead time — ocean plus our customs desk |
| Small consignments (roughly 20-500 kg) | Road pricing has minimums; air’s per-kg premium on small weights is modest in absolute rupees | Above roughly 2-3 tonnes, road or rail almost always wins on cost |
We will run this comparison for you before booking. Because we operate all the modes, we have no incentive to sell you the expensive one — a fair share of air enquiries we receive are quoted back as part truckload or rail, because that is what the arithmetic says.
Who ships air freight with us
Pharma and healthcare
Time- and temperature-critical APIs, finished formulations and diagnostic kits, with cold storage staging and reefer airport transfers to protect the chain of custody.
Manufacturing and industrial
Breakdown spares, tooling, and imported components against production schedules. DG-classified items handled under IATA dangerous-goods rules by a team that runs DG tankers on the road side.
FMCG and retail
Launch stock, promotional material and stock-out recovery to 320+ serviced locations, with our own vehicles closing the last mile beyond the airport.
Exporters and importers of engineering goods, garments and electronics use the international desk, where the air waybill, shipping bill and customs clearance are prepared by one in-house team rather than a chain of subcontractors.
Get an air freight estimate in minutes
Enter origin, destination, weight and carton dimensions — the calculator applies the chargeable-weight rule for you.
How air freight pricing works — chargeable weight, explained honestly
Airlines do not bill on actual weight alone. They bill on chargeable weight: the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight. For air cargo, volumetric weight in kilograms is length x width x height in centimetres, divided by 6,000, calculated per piece.
| Example consignment | Actual weight | Volumetric weight | Billed (chargeable) weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machine spares, 60 x 40 x 40 cm carton | 45 kg | 96,000 ÷ 6,000 = 16 kg | 45 kg (actual governs) |
| Garments, 100 x 80 x 75 cm carton | 38 kg | 600,000 ÷ 6,000 = 100 kg | 100 kg (volume governs) |
Beyond chargeable weight, your quote is shaped by: the lane and flight availability (trunk metro routes price lower than thin regional ones), commodity class (DG, perishable and valuable cargo carry handling surcharges), fuel and security surcharges set by the carrier, pickup and delivery distance from the airports, and — internationally — customs duty and clearance charges. We itemise each of these in the quotation. What we do not do is quote a low per-kilogram headline on actual weight and re-bill you on volume after uplift; the chargeable weight is agreed from your carton dimensions before booking. For an instant working number, use the freight rate calculator.
One practical lever: packaging. Reducing carton dimensions on a volume-governed consignment cuts the bill directly — we will tell you when repacking saves you money.
Coverage: domestic lanes and international corridors
Domestically, we serve all major cargo airports with own-fleet pickup and delivery reaching 320+ locations across 27 states — meaning the consignment does not stop at the destination airport if your consignee is 200 km further on. Internationally, we book export and import air freight on the global corridors our ocean and customs business already serves, with clearance handled in-house at Indian gateways. Check whether we cover your exact pickup and delivery pincodes with the serviceability checker.
Why ship air freight with Safe & Secure
One operator, four legs
Pickup, airport handling, customs and delivery under a single contract and a single point of accountability — with 2,700+ owned vehicles closing both road legs ourselves.
75 years, debt-free
Founded 1951, Rs 1,354 Cr (US$160M+) group revenue in FY26, family-owned and professionally run. A debt-free counterparty does not disappear mid-contract or squeeze you when rates move.
Mode-neutral advice
Because we run road, rail, ocean and air, we quote the mode the arithmetic supports — and put the comparison in writing so your team can audit the decision.
Add the specialist capabilities most forwarders subcontract: India’s largest private reefer fleet for cold-chain airport transfers, DG handling discipline built on our dangerous-goods tanker operations, 70+ warehouses for pre-uplift consolidation, and in-house maritime and customs expertise for international files. India’s leading FMCG, pharma and industrial enterprises trust this network with their cargo.
From enquiry to proof of delivery: the process
- Enquiry. Share origin, destination, weights and per-carton dimensions — by phone, WhatsApp, or the rate calculator.
- Quotation. We confirm chargeable weight, surcharges and transit time in writing, alongside a road or rail comparison where the numbers are close.
- Booking and pickup. Flight space is confirmed; our own vehicle collects against the airline cut-off.
- Documentation and screening. Air waybill issued; for exports, shipping bill filed and customs cleared by our in-house team.
- Uplift and tracking. The consignment flies on the confirmed schedule; you receive the AWB number and milestone updates.
- Destination clearance. Import shipments are cleared and duty-assessed before delivery is arranged.
- Delivery and POD. Our fleet delivers to the consignee’s door; proof of delivery is returned to close the file.
Book air cargo with a 75-year operator
Speak to the air freight desk for a same-day quotation, or check coverage for your pincodes first at the serviceability checker.
Frequently asked questions
When is air freight actually cheaper than road transport in India?
Rarely on the freight line alone — air costs several times more per kilogram than road. It wins on total cost when the goods are high value, urgent or perishable: when a production line stoppage, a stock-out penalty, or inventory carrying cost over a 4-6 day road transit exceeds the air premium. As a working rule, consignments under roughly 500 kg with a landed value well above their freight cost are the strongest air candidates.
What is chargeable weight and how is it calculated?
Airlines bill on the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight. For air freight, volumetric weight in kilograms is length x width x height in centimetres divided by 6,000, per piece. A 100 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm carton weighing 80 kg is billed at 167 kg, not 80. We quote chargeable weight upfront from your carton dimensions so the invoice matches the estimate.
How fast is domestic air freight door to door?
Airport to airport is typically same-day or next-day on trunk routes. Door to door depends on pickup cut-off times, security screening, and delivery distance from the destination airport — realistically 24 to 72 hours for most metro-to-metro lanes. We commit a specific transit at booking based on the flight schedule and your pincode, not a generic promise.
Can Safe & Secure handle international air freight including customs?
Yes. We manage export and import air consignments end to end: origin pickup, export documentation, airline booking on scheduled carriers, and customs clearance through our in-house customs team rather than a third-party broker. The same team runs our ocean and container business, so shipment files, duty assessments and compliance sit under one accountable desk.
What cargo cannot move by air, or needs special handling?
IATA dangerous-goods rules restrict or prohibit items such as lithium batteries above set thresholds, flammables, oxidisers and certain chemicals; others move only with UN-spec packaging and a DG declaration. Our team classifies your cargo before booking — we operate DG tankers on the road side, so hazardous-material compliance is an in-house discipline, not an afterthought. Temperature-sensitive cargo can be staged in our cold storage before uplift.
What documents do I need to book an air shipment?
Domestic: invoice, e-way bill where applicable, and packing details with per-carton dimensions and weights. International: commercial invoice, packing list, and product-specific paperwork such as MSDS for chemicals or licences for restricted goods; we prepare the air waybill and shipping bill. Send us the invoice and dimensions and we will list exactly what your commodity and lane require.
Do you handle small parcels or only larger consignments?
Our air freight desk is built for commercial cargo — typically 20 kg and upward, palletised or loose cartons — rather than single courier packets. For sub-20 kg documents and parcels, a courier network is usually the better-priced option and we will say so. For repeat lanes we consolidate smaller consignments to bring your effective per-kilogram rate down.
Proof of Scale · Since 1951
Backed by numbers, not promises.
India's largest privately-held heritage logistics platform — asset-backed, technology-enabled, and operating at national and international scale.
