Freighter Charter: Aircraft Types and Main-Deck Loading

Two freighters can carry the same total tonnage and still be completely unsuitable for the same shipment, because the limiting factor is rarely total weight. It is almost always door height, door width, floor loading per square metre, or main-deck versus lower-deck configuration. Choosing a freighter charter starts with the cargo's actual footprint, not its weight ticket.

Freighter aircraft fall into a small number of practical classes for charter purposes.

• Narrow-body freighters (e.g. 737F class), palletised freight and standard containers on regional and domestic Australian sectors
• Wide-body freighters (e.g. 777F, A330F class), high pallet counts and larger single pieces on longer international sectors, main-deck side cargo door for taller loads
• Nose-loading wide-bodies, main-deck cargo loaded through the nose, allowing longer single items to be loaded straight in without side-door width limits
• Outsize freighters (e.g. AN-124 class), front and rear ramp loading, drive-on capability for wheeled or tracked cargo, and the largest single-piece dimensions available commercially
• Combi and quick-change aircraft, mixed passenger and cargo main-deck configuration for lower-volume or one-off movements

Main-deck loading uses a roller-ball or roller-track floor system that allows pallets and containers to be moved along the cabin floor with a loader, rather than lifted piece by piece. The practical implication for a shipper is that main-deck freighters are built around standard pallet and container footprints, cargo that doesn't conform to those footprints needs to be assessed individually before it's quoted.

Side-loading aircraft take pallets through a cargo door in the fuselage, which limits the height and sometimes the length of what can be loaded without dismantling. Nose-loading and ramp-loading aircraft remove that constraint, which is why long, tall or wheeled cargo is usually matched to a nose-loader or an outsize ramp-loading freighter rather than a standard side-loading wide-body.

Before quoting a freighter charter, Aviall's ops desk checks the shipment against three limits that determine whether it physically fits and can be loaded safely.

• Cargo door height and width, which sets the maximum cross-section that can pass through without disassembly
• Floor loading limit in kilograms per square metre, which can bind before total weight does on dense or narrow-footprint cargo
• Main-deck usable length and any structural obstructions (bulkheads, seat tracks on quick-change aircraft) along the load path

Freighter availability across Australia and the Asia-Pacific varies by class. Narrow-body freighters are the most commonly positioned aircraft on domestic Australian routes; wide-body and outsize freighters are usually sourced from regional freight hubs including Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland Chinese gateways, with positioning time added to the charter timeline accordingly.