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Aviation glossary

Cargo airline

Also: all-cargo airline, freight airline, cargo carrier

Airlines and business

Airline dedicated to carrying freight, operating freighter aircraft rather than passenger flights, either on its own account or on behalf of other companies.

What it is

A large share of air cargo travels in the holds of passenger aircraft, but cargo airlines operate dedicated freighters, with large doors, roller floors and a main deck clear for pallets and containers (ULDs). That lets them carry bulky or heavy consignments, dangerous goods restricted to cargo aircraft, and freight to places without passenger services.

Some are divisions of passenger airlines that keep a freighter fleet; others are all-cargo companies working for freight forwarders or leasing their aircraft to other operators. Their fleets mix factory-built freighters, such as the Boeing 777F, with converted passenger aircraft.

Integrators such as FedEx Express and UPS Airlines are a special case, combining an airline with door-to-door delivery.

On Vuelopedia

Boeing 777 Boeing 747

Related terms

FreighterAircraft used solely to carry cargo, with no passenger cabin, a strengthened floor and a large cargo door on the main deck. IntegratorExpress delivery company that controls the whole chain, from collection to delivery, with its own aircraft and sorting hubs, offering a door-to-door service. ULDStandardised container or pallet in which baggage and freight are consolidated so they can be loaded onto an aircraft as a single unit. Freighter conversionThe rebuilding of a used passenger aircraft as a freighter, with a large side cargo door, a strengthened floor and a cabin stripped to take pallets and containers. Cargo holdCargo compartment, usually located beneath the cabin floor, that carries checked baggage, freight and mail on a passenger aircraft.
Whole glossary

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Cargo airline. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cargo-airline

MLA

“Cargo airline.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cargo-airline. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Cargo airline.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cargo-airline.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Cargo airline. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cargo-airline (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_cargo_airline,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Cargo airline}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cargo-airline},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cargo-airline}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cargo-airline |title=Cargo airline |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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