You know the scenario: you have that urgent aircraft part that your customer (internal or external) needed “yesterday.” But, it may sometimes be difficult to choose the type of service that you truly need to meet your critical AOG deadline. Understanding the different service options can save you time, money and... headaches.



Expedited service: Next Flight Out

The NFO, next available commercial flight out of the originating city, is usually the most popular choice: when next day service just won’t meet your requirements, Next Flight Out is the way go. Sterling is one of the biggest over-the-counter cargo customers to all the commercial airlines that offer express cargo. We have access to literally thousands of flights a day. But even with our preferred status, NFO may not always be the best option.

The grim reality is that there are times that cargo does not go as booked. We call these “no shows”, which are shipments that have been booked and tendered to an airline but end up missing the planned flight. “No shows” account for anywhere between 0.3% to 1.2% of all NFO shipments (these numbers tend to rise during weekends and holidays). It is our job to manage our vendors, to ensure that they provide Sterling with a very efficient and reliable over-the-counter expedited cargo product, but in some cases it may be prudent to consider other service options.

More control with On Board Courier

The OBC (On Board Courier) service ensures that your part is always in the hands of a dedicated courier. The service uses commercial flights to move your material around the globe, but the difference between NFO and OBC is that your shipment will not go through the commercial cargo product. Instead, your dedicated courier will check in to the flight with your shipment, store it in the overhead bin and will never leave it unattended from the time of pick up until time of delivery. Even though more costly than NFO, OBC eliminates several non-controllable variables that exist when shipping NFO.

OBCs are also a good way to reduce your cutoff time. Typically the time allotted by an airline to tender cargo for an international flight is anywhere between 3 to 5 hours. When you have a last minute AOG that needs to make a flight and time does not allow for an NFO booking, we can book an OBC up to an hour prior to departure. On Board Couriers are a very effective way to make tight connections and avoid the chances of a “no show” or a cargo department mishandling the goods.

Finally, some commercial cargo departments close before the final flights of the day land, thus only allowing for next morning retrieval. With an OBC, your dedicated courier goes directly from the flight to a connection, or from the flight to the final destination at anytime of the day, also eliminating wait time for cargo to be offloaded.

Your safest bet: Charter Service

A top level service that removes all variables from any transaction is a Charter Service. With a team of charter specialists that provides a dedicated aircraft and crew to transport your goods directly from point A to point B, you gain the highest control, speed and reliability. This service eliminates the possibility of a commercial operator going mechanical and delaying an NFO or OBC. It also eliminates all other uncontrollable variables in the transaction.

The difference in cost for the 3 levels of services varies, and weighs in on your decision to what level of service you chose. Our job, as an extension of your supply chain team, is to provide you with all the options up front so that you can chose the right service for each situation.

Knowing all the options up front is the key to ensuring a revenue aircraft is not affected, a component or engine remains within turn around time, a borrow is removed promptly and/or an aircraft leaves it’s maintenance visit on time.