ARDI Logistics — Air Freight
Air Freight from Asia to the USA — Fast, Priced by Chargeable Weight
Standard, express and deferred air cargo from China, Vietnam and India — recovered from the airport, cleared, cross-docked at our own US warehouses and delivered onward, all under one group.
The Short Answer
What Is Air Freight — and How Is It Different from an Express Courier?
Air freight is commercial cargo moved in the hold of a passenger or freighter aircraft, booked through a forwarder and handled as a freight shipment: palletised or crated, covered by an air waybill, cleared as a formal import. It is the fastest way to move inventory across an ocean, and it is priced per kilo rather than per parcel.
An express courier — the parcel services most people know by name — is a different product at a different price. Couriers move small packages door to door on their own network at a premium per kilo that runs several times the air freight rate; air freight moves pallets at a fraction of that cost, with the customs and delivery legs arranged around it. The practical dividing line is volume: past roughly one pallet, air freight is almost always the cheaper way to fly.
Chargeable Weight
Chargeable Weight — Why Air Freight Bills Surprise First-Time Importers
Air freight is not billed on what your cargo weighs. It is billed on chargeable weight: the greater of the actual weight and the volumetric weight, which converts the space your shipment occupies into a weight figure. Light, bulky cargo pays for the room it takes up in the aircraft; dense cargo pays for its mass. Whichever number is higher is the one on your invoice.
The conversion divisor is where importers get caught, because air freight and express couriers use different ones. Applying the courier divisor to a freight quote understates the cost by twenty percent.
| Service | Volumetric formula | Chargeable weight |
|---|---|---|
| Air freight (IATA standard) | L × W × H in cm ÷ 6,000 = kg | The greater of actual and volumetric |
| Express couriers | L × W × H in cm ÷ 5,000 = kg | The greater of actual and volumetric |
Air vs Ocean
When Air Freight Beats Ocean — and When It Doesn't
Air is not simply the expensive option. It is the option that trades freight cost for working capital, shelf availability and risk. Cargo in the air for four days is cargo not tied up for six weeks at sea, and for high-value or fast-turning goods that difference often pays for itself. The decision is rarely about the freight invoice alone.
| Air freight | Ocean freight | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical door-to-door | 5–11 days | 25–56 days depending on coast |
| Priced on | Chargeable weight per kg | Per container (FCL) or per CBM (LCL) |
| Best fit | High value per kilo, urgent replenishment, launches, samples, stockout recovery | Planned inventory, bulky or low-value-per-kilo goods, seasonal builds |
| Capital effect | Inventory turns faster, less cash sitting on the water | Lower freight cost, more cash committed for longer |
| Restrictions | Tighter — batteries, aerosols and flammables heavily regulated | Broader tolerance for most general cargo |
Service Levels
Express, Standard and Deferred — Three Speeds, Three Prices
Express air
Priority space on the next available flight with minimal consolidation waiting time. The fastest option short of a courier, and the right one when a stockout is already costing you sales.
Standard air
The default service: cargo is consolidated, flown on scheduled capacity and cleared on arrival. The best balance of speed and cost for most replenishment.
Deferred air
Cargo moves on space-available terms over a slightly longer window at a lower rate. Sensible when you need to beat ocean transit but the deadline is weeks rather than days.
The same shipment can be quoted at all three levels, so the trade-off becomes a number instead of a guess.
Transit Times
Air Freight Transit Times from Asia to the USA
| Lane | Airport to airport | Door to door | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| China → US West Coast | 2–4 days | 5–9 days | Direct services at the fast end |
| China → US East Coast | 3–6 days | 6–11 days | Often routed via a West Coast gateway |
| Vietnam → US West Coast | 3–5 days | 6–10 days | Estimated on comparable Trans-Pacific lanes |
| India → US East Coast | 3–6 days | 7–12 days | Estimated, routing varies by carrier |
These are typical planning ranges, not commitments. Air transit moves with available capacity, consolidation cut-offs at origin, customs processing on arrival and the length of the final road leg. Peak season and the weeks around Chinese New Year tighten space and push the upper end. We quote against the range and confirm the actual cut-off at booking.
After Landing — The ARDI Difference
What Happens After the Plane Lands — the Half Most Forwarders Hand Off
Air freight is sold on flight time, but flight time is rarely where the days are lost. Cargo lands, then waits: to be recovered from the airline's cargo terminal, to clear, for a truck, for someone to break the pallets down and get the goods ready for where they are actually going. Four days in the air can become eleven on the ground, and at that point the premium paid for speed has been spent standing still.
Recovery and entry
Drayage
Cross-docking and prep
Onward or hold
One group owns every link: ARDI Logistics moves the freight, ARDI Express runs the warehouses. The arrival gateway is chosen against the warehouse that will receive the cargo — West Coast arrivals into Riverside, New York and New Jersey arrivals into Edison — so the ground half of an air shipment is planned before the cargo takes off rather than improvised after it lands.
Restrictions
What Air Freight Won't Carry — Check Before You Manufacture
Air cargo is regulated far more tightly than ocean. Lithium batteries are the most common problem: the rules tightened again in January 2026, and cells shipped packed with equipment now travel under a mandatory state-of-charge limit rather than fully charged. Aerosols, flammable liquids, magnets, certain powders and anything classified as dangerous goods carry declaration requirements, packaging standards and carrier approvals of their own.
ARDI does not accept dangerous goods, hazardous materials or personal effects for air movement. If your product contains batteries — including devices with them built in — say so before booking rather than after: the classification determines whether it can fly at all, on what terms and at what rate. Goods declared as general cargo that turn out to be regulated risk seizure of the whole consignment, which is a far more expensive discovery than a question asked early.
Cost
What Actually Drives Your Air Freight Rate
Air rates are quoted per kilo of chargeable weight, and the per-kilo figure moves with several things at once:
FAQ
Air Freight FAQ
Can you handle a same-week shipment?
Often yes, depending on the lane and how ready the cargo is. Express service exists for exactly this, and the limiting factor is usually not the flight but the paperwork: cargo has to be packed, measured, documented and cleared for export before it can be tendered. Send the details as early as you can and we will give you the realistic cut-off rather than an optimistic one.
Why is my air freight invoice higher than the weight on my packing list?
Because air freight bills on chargeable weight, not actual weight. If cargo is light for the space it occupies, the volumetric figure is higher and that is the one charged. It is the most common billing surprise in air freight and it is entirely predictable: send carton dimensions along with weights and the quote will reflect the number you will actually be billed.
Do you deliver air shipments directly to Amazon fulfillment centers?
Yes, and there is a choice worth making. Freight can go straight from the airport to a fulfillment center, which is fastest, or route through our warehouse first for prep, FC splits and paced release. The second usually matters more, since Amazon no longer preps inventory itself and will refuse shipments that arrive unlabelled or out of spec.
What documents does air freight need that ocean doesn't?
The core set is the same — commercial invoice, packing list, classification — but the transport document differs: air moves under an air waybill rather than a bill of lading, and an air waybill is not a document of title, so cargo releases against identity rather than surrender of an original. In practice that removes one common source of delay at destination.
Is it worth flying part of a shipment and shipping the rest by sea?
For a launch or a restock after a stockout, frequently yes. Flying enough units to keep selling while the bulk travels by sea costs a fraction of flying the whole order and protects the sales you would otherwise lose during transit. We quote both legs on one request so the split is a calculation rather than a guess.
Get a Quote
Get an Air Freight Quote.
Send carton dimensions, weights and your cargo-ready date — we'll come back with express, standard and deferred pricing on the same lane, plus what the door-to-door version costs.
- Response within 24 hours — from a freight specialist, not a bot
- Free quote, no obligation to book
- One transparent landed cost — no hidden fees
Trusted by importers, e-commerce brands, and B2B shippers moving freight from China to the USA.
Thanks — we've got your shipment details. An ARDI freight specialist will reply within one business day with your landed-cost breakdown.