Aircraft Selection · Payload Matching · Australia & APAC
A practical framework for working out which cargo aircraft class actually fits your shipment, before you ask for a quote.
Already have an RFQ prepared? Email charters@aviall.com.au
The most common way a charter quote goes wrong is a shipper asking for a specific aircraft type before the cargo has been properly profiled. Aircraft selection should run the other way: define the payload's weight, dimensions, urgency and route, then let those four variables point to the aircraft class that fits with the least wasted capacity.
Every cargo charter decision comes down to the same four checks, run in this order.
Once the four variables are known, most shipments map cleanly onto one of these classes.
A shipper sizing an aircraft off weight alone often under-specifies, because volume and dimensions bind first on light, bulky freight. Conversely, dense, compact cargo can exceed a smaller aircraft's structural floor limit while looking easy to fit by eye. Aviall's ops desk checks both weight and dimensional fit against the specific airframe being proposed before it goes into a quote, not after the aircraft has been booked.
Aircraft class is also constrained by where the cargo needs to go. Many resources and remote-site destinations across the Pilbara, Kimberley, Goldfields, Bowen Basin and Northern Territory can only accept turboprop or smaller jet aircraft due to runway length and surface. Larger freighters are positioned into capital city and major regional gateways, with cargo then transferred by road for the final leg where the destination strip cannot take the aircraft.
Weight and dimensional assessment before any aircraft is proposed.
Destination suitability confirmed for the aircraft class under consideration.
Access to turboprop through outsize ramp-loading freighter classes.
Combined air and road solutions where destination strips limit aircraft size.
Load planning support ahead of aircraft confirmation.
Written aircraft options typically within the hour of a complete brief.
Urgent charter? Our ops desk is staffed 24/7.
Aircraft options within the hour and a written quote with an indicative wheels-up window.
Mission examples · Illustrative
Representative mission profiles drawn from recurring work. Identifying details, operators, hospitals, routes, aircraft tail numbers, are intentionally omitted.
An ASX-listed resources operator faced a stalled processing line waiting on a single oversized component too large for any scheduled freighter. Aviall sourced an outsize main-deck nose-loader, completed pavement and load-spread checks at the regional destination, and coordinated road movement permits at both ends.
Outcome
Component on site inside 72 hours of first call; production line restart same week.
A major carrier had a wide-body grounded at a foreign hub, awaiting a replacement engine sitting in a domestic MRO. Aviall positioned a freighter to the MRO, coordinated dangerous goods documentation for the engine and stand, and held a flight-following bridge with the airline's tech ops cell door-to-door.
Outcome
Engine wheels-up inside 14 hours of release; aircraft returned to service the next operational day.
A global health programme required a high-value biologics consignment moved on a controlled cool-chain into the Asia-Pacific without consolidation risk. Aviall chartered a freighter dedicated to the shipment, with active containers, written ramp-time targets, and continuous data-logger oversight.
Outcome
Zero temperature excursions; chain-of-custody documentation closed within 24 hours of landing.
Specialised capability
FAQ
Provide total weight, dimensions per piece, urgency and the origin and destination airports. The ops desk matches those four factors to the smallest aircraft class that fits, so you aren't paying for unused capacity.
Keep exploring
Why operators, brokers and end clients keep calling back
"Quote came back inside the hour with two aircraft options, written wheels-up windows and the cost-versus-time trade-off laid out. That is what we expect and rarely get."
, Project logistics manager · Resources sector
"Documentation, NOTOCs and DG paperwork were closed before we'd finished briefing our customer. No back-and-forth, no surprises at the ramp."
, Senior freight forwarder · Global 3PL
"They run the mission like an operator, not like a broker. That distinction matters when the cargo is heavy, the route is hard and the clock is real."
, Charter broker · International network
Give us the weight, dimensions and route and we'll match the aircraft class before quoting.
Send us origin, destination, payload and ready date. We return aircraft options. Attach an existing RFQ, packing list or photos straight from your phone, partial detail is enough to start.
Or email your RFQ directly to charters@aviall.com.au
24/7 ops desk. Quote inside the hour.