How to Package Goods for Domestic Air Freight to Cut Costs and Prevent Damage

If I could give every shipper one piece of advice about domestic air freight, it would be to look hard at their cartons. Packaging decides how much you pay, whether your freight gets through security screening without delay, and whether it arrives in one piece. Yet it is often left to whoever happens to be on the dispatch bench with whatever boxes are in stock.

This guide explains how to package goods for domestic air freight in Australia. It is part of our guide to optimising your business supply chain with domestic air freight.

Why packaging drives your air freight bill

Domestic air freight is charged on the greater of dead weight and cubic weight. Many express networks use a conversion of 250 kg per cubic metre, which means a carton full of air can be billed at double or triple what it weighs. If you are not sure how this works, start with our guide to how domestic air freight rates are calculated.

Because most surcharges, including fuel levies, are calculated as a percentage of the freight charge, reducing chargeable weight also reduces them.

Right-size your cartons

The aim is the smallest carton that still protects the product.

• Stock a range of sizes. Three to six standard carton sizes will cover most product mixes. Choose them by analysing your most common order profiles, not by guessing.
• Use satchels for soft goods. Clothing, textiles and other non-fragile items travel well in courier satchels, which often have flat rates.
• Cut down or use variable-depth cartons for products with irregular volumes.
• Review packaging when products change. A new product line often ends up in an old carton size that no longer fits well.
• Measure what the carrier measures. Record the outer dimensions after packing, including any bulge, and declare them accurately.

Choose cartons strong enough for air handling

Air freight is handled more often than many people realise: pick-up, sorting at the depot, build-up into containers or onto pallets, loading, unloading, breakdown and delivery. Each stage involves stacking and movement.

• Use new, rigid cartons for heavier items. Reused cartons lose much of their strength and often carry old labels.
• Match board strength to weight. Double-wall corrugated board is a sensible choice for heavier or fragile goods.
• Fill voids. Contents should not move when you shake the carton. Use paper, air pillows or moulded inserts.
• Protect corners and edges of fragile items with at least 5 cm of cushioning between product and carton wall.
• Seal properly with strong tape using an H-pattern across the top and bottom seams.
• Keep individual pieces manageable. Many networks set weight and size limits for manually handled items. Heavier pieces may need a pallet, attract a surcharge or require a different service.

Liquids, leaks and odours

A leaking carton can damage other customers' freight and lead to your consignment being offloaded. For liquids, use leak-proof primary containers, close caps securely, place them in a sealed bag or liner, and add enough absorbent material to soak up the contents. Seafood and other perishables need sealed liners as well. Our guide to shipping perishables by domestic air freight covers insulated packaging and coolants in detail.

Palletised freight for air

Pallets travel by air, but aircraft set limits that trucks do not.

• Check height and footprint limits with your carrier before you build. Lower-deck holds on narrow-body aircraft have much less height than a truck, and dedicated freighters have their own contour limits.
• No overhang. Cartons that hang over the pallet edge get crushed and increase your measured dimensions.
• Stack heavy on the bottom, interlock layers where possible and keep the top flat.
• Stretch-wrap and strap to keep the load stable, and add corner boards for heavier loads.
• Include the pallet in your declared weight and height.

Packaging and security screening

Australian air cargo must be examined or come from a Known Consignor before it is loaded. How you present freight affects how quickly this happens.

• Pre-screened freight lodged with a valid Consignment Security Declaration can be wrapped and consolidated as normal.
• Unscreened freight may need to be screened at the airline terminal. Qantas Freight, for example, requires such freight to be presented at piece level, except for homogeneous freight. A shrink-wrapped pallet of mixed cartons may have to be broken down, which takes time and costs money.
• Dense or unusual items can be hard to clear by X-ray and may need a different examination method. Clear, consistent packaging helps.

If you ship regularly, using a Regulated Air Cargo Agent that screens before build-up, or becoming a Known Consignor, removes most of these issues.

Labelling and documentation

• Label every piece with the consignment note or carrier label, the delivery address, the sender's address and the piece count (for example, 2 of 5).
• Remove old labels and barcodes from reused cartons. Old barcodes confuse scanners, and old dangerous goods marks can cause your freight to be stopped even if the contents are safe.
• Use handling labels sparingly and correctly. Orientation arrows and "fragile" labels help, but they do not replace good packing.
• Declare contents accurately. A shipper must describe the contents of air cargo truthfully. Describing a regulated item vaguely to avoid dangerous goods rules is an offence and a safety risk.

Dangerous goods need specialist packaging

Many everyday products, including aerosols, perfumes, lithium batteries, paints and some cleaning chemicals, are dangerous goods in air transport. If they can fly at all, they usually need UN-specified packaging, specific marks and labels, and a Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods prepared by trained staff under CASR Part 92 and the ICAO Technical Instructions. When in doubt, check with your carrier or a dangerous goods specialist before packing. Online retailers often send these items by road instead, as our article on domestic air freight for ecommerce explains.

A packaging checklist for your dispatch team

1. Is this the smallest carton or satchel that protects the product?
2. Is the carton new or in good condition, with no old labels?
3. Are voids filled and contents secure?
4. Are liquids sealed, bagged and packed with absorbent material?
5. Does the item contain anything that could be dangerous goods?
6. Is the piece within the carrier's weight and size limits?
7. Are all pieces labelled with the address, consignment details and piece count?
8. Have the final dimensions and weight been recorded accurately?

Good packaging is one of the cheapest ways to improve your air freight performance. For how it fits into a complete strategy, return to our guide to using domestic air freight to optimise your supply chain.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and review. This article draws on guidance from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Centre within the Department of Home Affairs, IATA, airline cargo conditions of carriage and published carrier information. Rates, surcharges and rules change often, so confirm current requirements with your carrier before you ship.

Written and reviewed by

George Brown

Senior Air Freight Editor, Georgeiv.net

George has 18 years of air cargo experience, from ramp operations at Sydney Airport to managing airline allocations and pricing for forwarders across Australia and Asia-Pacific. He leads our domestic air freight coverage and checks every figure and rule before publication.

Read George's profile