Hubs and transit

Dubai International (DXB)

The busiest international passenger airport in the world and the centre of our operation.

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Al Maktoum International (DWC)

Dubai World Central, the new Dubai airport, being built to become the largest in the world.

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Zayed International (AUH)

Etihad's hub, and the fastest way into the United States thanks to US preclearance.

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Sharjah International (SHJ)

Air Arabia's base and the quickest airport for the northern emirates.

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Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah & Al Ain

RKT, FJR and AAN serve the northern emirates, the east coast and the inland industrial areas. We use them when a pick-up there would otherwise lose an hour on the road to Dubai.

Collection in the free zones

JAFZA, DAFZA, DMCC, KIZAD, Hamriyah and RAKEZ, much of the region's aviation, pharma and electronics inventory already sits minutes from a runway.

You tell us what it is

We need four things before we can say anything useful: what is inside, what it is worth, where exactly it has to be, and by when. Not a category, the actual item. “Electronic component” and “lithium battery pack” are the same box to you and two entirely different answers for a flight to the connecting city.

We screen it and price it

Before a price exists we screen the parties, the commodity and the route against sanctions and export-control lists, and we check whether the connecting city requires a permit or a licensed consignee for that category. This is also where we occasionally say no, and a provider who never says no has simply moved the risk onto you.

A named courier is assigned and booked

We name the courier and the flight before you pay, not after. That means a real person with a passport valid well beyond the trip, the visas the the connecting city routing needs, and a record of assignments they have already closed cleanly.

Collection, sealing and documentation

At collection the seal number is recorded, the goods are photographed and the paperwork is checked line by line against what is in the box. A description that does not match the contents is a common reason a hand-carry is held at the transit airport, and it is entirely preventable.

The consignment stays in the cabin

The flight is the boring part, and that is the point. No hold, no handling agent, no transfer between systems, one person, one box, one continuous chain of custody all the way to the transit airport.

Customs, then a signature

Clearance at the transit airport happens with a person standing at the counter who can answer questions about the goods on the spot, which is the whole reason a query takes minutes here and a day in the cargo channel. Then the delivery, in person, against signature and ID.

The consignment is larger than described

Measured at collection, not at the gate. If it will not fit a locker we buy a seat for it there and then and tell you the revised number before the courier moves, rather than improvising at check-in.

The courier is refused boarding

Almost always a document problem: a passport too close to expiry, a missing transit visa, a name on the ticket that does not match the passport. Every one of those is checked at assignment, and it is checked again before the courier leaves for the airport.

The consignee is unreachable

We confirm the receiving party and a working phone number before the courier departs, and we agree a fallback in the connecting city, a second authorised person, or a secure hold, so that a delivery does not fail because someone went into a meeting.

Customs asks a question

A person can answer it. That single fact is most of the difference between a hand-carry and a cargo booking: a query at the transit airport that would idle a shipment for a day gets resolved at the counter in minutes because the person who knows what is in the box is standing there.

The flight is cancelled

Not a crisis, a routine. Before the courier leaves for the airport we already know the next two departures that could carry the consignment to the connecting city, on any carrier, from any of the seven UAE airports. Rebooking is a phone call, not a rescue operation.

The connection is missed

This is why we build routings above the minimum connection time rather than at it. Where a connection is genuinely tight, the courier holds the consignment airside and takes the next available service rather than clearing into a country they were only passing through.

What is always included

Ticket, courier fee, airport transfers, the hotel where an overnight is unavoidable, the documentation work and our operations desk being awake for the whole journey. What is not included is duty and tax in the transit country, and anything you ask for after departure that changes the routing.

Regulatory profile of the goods

Batteries, biological material, temperature-controlled consignments and anything export-controlled require preparation, sometimes a permit and occasionally a specialist packer. That work is real and it appears in the quote rather than as a surprise at the airport.

Distance and sector count

A direct flight to the connecting city is one ticket and one risk. A two-sector routing is cheaper on paper and more expensive in practice, because every connection is a chance to lose the consignment's schedule. We quote the routing we would actually fly, not the cheapest one that technically arrives.

How much notice you give us

A seat bought four hours before departure costs what a seat bought four hours before departure costs. Nothing about that is a courier margin, it is simply the airline's pricing curve, and it is the single largest variable in the connecting city quote.

Size, weight and whether it fits a locker

Anything beyond normal cabin baggage means a second seat, and occasionally two. An extra seat sounds dramatic until you compare it with a charter: it is an order of magnitude cheaper and it moves at the speed of a scheduled flight.

Declared value and insurance

All-risk cover is priced on the declared value of the goods, and it is the number that matters, airline liability under the Montreal Convention is a fraction of what most courier consignments are worth. Understating the value to save a little on cover is a false economy the first time anything goes wrong.

Semiconductors and electronics

Wafers, reticles, test boards, display panels and pre-production units. Small, fragile, export-controlled and usually holding up a fab, a lab or a product launch somewhere.

Fashion and product samples

Lab dips, lookbooks, couture pieces and pre-production units that have to be in a buyer's hands before the meeting. After the meeting they are worth exactly nothing.

Energy, marine and mining

Downhole and subsea electronics, marine spares for a vessel with a sailing window, assay samples with a chain-of-custody requirement, and project equipment on a contractual schedule.

Automotive and mobility

Prototypes under confidentiality, homologation samples, tooling inserts and line-critical components moving to build schedules that were fixed months ago.

Life sciences and diagnostics

Clinical trial samples, diagnostic material, reference standards and biologics, most of them with a stability window measured in hours rather than days and a data logger recording every minute of the journey to the connecting city.

Aviation and AOG

A grounded aircraft costs more per hour than the entire logistics budget for the month. Rotables, avionics, seals and the certification paperwork that must travel with them are the most time-sensitive freight that exists, and the connecting city sees them regularly.