AI image
Ground logistics for aviation is the road part of the air-freight chain: delivering a shipment to the airport cargo terminal before departure, and collecting it after arrival for delivery to the consignee. The service is for companies that ship or receive air freight and need reliable, pre-notified road transport that hits the terminal time slot. OTSL runs the road leg around the airport, coordinates with the handling agent and keeps the paperwork consistent with the air waybill.
What it covers
- Delivery of a shipment to the cargo terminal at the named airport before departure.
- Collection of cargo after arrival and door-to-door road delivery to the consignee.
- Coordination with the handling agent that processes the shipment at the terminal.
- Vehicle booking-in, meaning the delivery or collection is registered within the terminal time window.
- Checking that the transport documents match the air waybill (AWB).
- Carriage of loads that need ADR handling or controlled temperature, where the shipment requires it.
- Airport-to-airport moves, when cargo has to travel by road from one hub to another.
- Securing and lashing the load on the trailer in line with load-restraint practice (EN 12195).
How we do it
For exports we deliver the shipment before departure. The vehicle goes to the cargo terminal, we book in the delivery for the time window and hand the load to the handling agent, keeping the paperwork consistent with the AWB. We agree in advance whether the shipment travels on air pallets or as loose cargo to be built up on site.
For imports we collect the cargo after arrival. Once the terminal releases the shipment we book in the collection, load it and deliver it by road to the consignee. Throughout, we stay in contact with the terminal so the vehicle hits its slot and the road leg connects to the air-freight movement without a wait.
For time-sensitive loads we provide a dedicated vehicle with no groupage stops on the way. We match the route and equipment to the shipment, not the other way round: moving a few pallets is one job, a single heavy piece is another.
Where the service ends (what it does not cover)
We are not an air carrier or a handling agent. We do not book space on the aircraft, build air pallets at the terminal or take responsibility for the shipment in the air. We run the road transport around the airport and coordinate it with the terminal.
Terminal time windows are fixed. If the vehicle misses its booking-in slot, the shipment can miss that flight, and the next free slot may not come until the following day. That is why we agree the arrival time and the full set of documents in advance. When the freight needs ADR or controlled temperature, it must be declared before the vehicle is sent: a missed regime risks refusal at the terminal and a lost flight, not just a delay.
