Jet Charter Philadelphia arranges air cargo charter from Philadelphia and across Pennsylvania, where a full aircraft is chartered for your shipment alone rather than space being bought on someone else’s.
That distinction is the whole service. Your freight sets the schedule, the routing and the departure time, and it does not get bumped for a higher-paying load.
What moves this way
Most of the work falls into a few shapes. A production component that has stopped a line and has to be on site before the next shift. Laboratory and clinical material moving along the pharmaceutical corridor that runs from Wilmington through Chester County into central New Jersey. Oversized equipment that will not fit a scheduled freighter. Relief supplies. Live animals. High-value goods where the fewer hands involved, the better.
Where the shipment is a household move rather than commercial freight, our relocation page covers how that works alongside a passenger aircraft.
Sizing the aircraft
Two numbers decide the aircraft and people usually only bring one of them. Weight matters, but volume runs out first on most loads, and the dimensions of the cargo door decide whether a pallet fits at all.
Give us the weight, the dimensions of the largest single piece, whether it is palletized, and the deadline. Turboprops and light freighters handle smaller urgent loads into regional fields. Larger aircraft take palletized freight. For genuinely outsize equipment there are aircraft with nose or ramp loading, and those need more lead time.
Airports around Philadelphia
Philadelphia International handles the largest freighters and has the ground equipment to load them. Northeast Philadelphia (KPNE) suits smaller and more urgent loads, with a 7,000-foot runway and customs available around the clock with prior notice. Across the state, Pittsburgh International covers the western end.
If you give us the delivery address rather than the city, we will work out which field actually gets the freight closest to it.
Cargo Aircraft We Arrange from Philadelphia
Each aircraft below has its own page with payload, volume and range. Which one suits your shipment depends on the weight, the dimensions of the largest single piece and the fields at both ends, and your advisor will check all three against your load.
Smaller and regional freighters
Narrow-body and mid-size freighters
Wide-body and outsize freighters
- Antonov An-124 Ruslan
- Boeing 747-400F
- Boeing 747-8F
- Boeing 777 Freighter
- Lockheed C-130 Hercules
- McDonnell Douglas MD-11F
Paperwork and international moves
Cargo charter carries more documentation than passenger charter, and the paperwork is usually what delays a shipment rather than the flying. Dangerous goods, perishables, live animals and controlled material each carry their own requirements, and they need declaring at the point you first call rather than at the ramp.
On international routes, operators must meet the equivalent safety standards of the country of operation. Landing permits and authorizations are generally applied for after a trip has been secured on the aircraft schedule, and sometimes the timeline is dictated by the local airport authorities. We will always do our best to ensure departure and arrival times meet your needs, but these are sometimes subject to the approvals of the local airport authority and government.
The operator behind the aircraft
Cargo flights go through the same review as passenger flights. We confirm the operator’s certification, review their safety and incident history, and confirm the pilots are experienced and current on the aircraft type.
What we need from you to quote it
A cargo quote comes together faster than a passenger one when the details arrive together. The weight of the shipment. The dimensions of the largest single piece. Whether it is on pallets or loose. The pickup point and the delivery point, as addresses rather than cities. The deadline, and whether it is a hard one.
If the shipment is temperature-controlled, hazardous, perishable, live, or subject to export control, say so at the first call. Each of those changes which operators can carry it, and finding out late is what turns a straightforward booking into a delayed one.
Ground handling at both ends
The flying is usually the simplest part of a cargo charter. Loading is not. Not every airport has the equipment to put a heavy pallet into an aircraft, and the ones that do may not have it available at three in the morning.
We confirm ground handling at both ends before the trip is booked, including whether a forklift or a main-deck loader is available and whether the cargo door on the aircraft actually takes your load. Where a field cannot handle it, we will say so and suggest the nearest one that can.
Vetting Behind Every Trip
Every operator, aircraft, and crew goes through our internal due diligence before we present any options. Our internal standards meet or exceed what the FAA requires:
- FAR Part 135 charter operators for traditional private aircraft, or FAR Part 121 for airliner-size and group trips (or the foreign equivalent on international legs)
- Operator subscription to Wyvern and ARGUS reviewed where the operator participates.
- Pilot experience and operator incident history reviewed before we recommend an aircraft.
- Fewer than 60 brokers worldwide hold Premium Wyvern Broker Member status, and Air Charter Advisors is one of them.
Philadelphia-Specific Patterns We Plan Around
Two things shape a Philadelphia departure more than anything else. In winter, de-icing has to happen on the ramp before an aircraft can leave, so a January departure takes longer to get airborne than the same trip in June, and we build that time into your schedule from the start. In summer, thunderstorms move through quickly and close the airspace while they pass. Airport hours matter as well: Philadelphia International has a tower around the clock, Northeast Philadelphia’s closes at 11 p.m., and Wings Field has none at all, so a late arrival can decide which airport makes sense for your trip. Your advisor checks all of it before your date.
Contact
For a quote on a Philadelphia charter, call 1-888-987-5387 or head to our contact page. The phone is answered at any hour, on any day of the year. For how we review the operator behind every flight, see our safety page, and the aircraft guide for cabin and range options. The National Business Aviation Association sets the broader operating standards we work within.