AOG Freight: Why Every Minute Has a Price Tag

The cost of a grounded aircraft

A grounded wide-body aircraft can cost an operator tens of thousands of pounds an hour. When an aircraft goes out of service on a mechanical fault, the clock starts immediately, and everything downstream of that moment is a logistics problem rather than an engineering one.

The challenge is rarely finding the part. It’s getting the part airside before the cost of the delay compounds.

What makes AOG different from standard freight

Ordinary freight forwarding runs on planned timelines. AOG does not. A partner handling AOG movements has to be able to:

• Identify the next available flight within minutes, not hours.
• Handle IATA Dangerous Goods documentation for components such as hydraulic fluids or batteries.
• Dispatch a driver immediately for collection from a warehouse or manufacturer.
• Coordinate airside delivery straight to the maintenance team at destination.

Each of those depends on the one before it. Miss the flight identification and the driver dispatch is already wasted.

A real AOG movement: hydraulic actuator, UK to Rome

Elapsed	Action taken
00:00	AOG call received. Part located. DG classification checked (Class 3 flammable liquid). Next flight identified.
00:35	Driver dispatched. Flight booking confirmed. DG documentation prepared in transit.
01:20	Shipment at Heathrow. Cargo checked in and loaded.
03:10	Flight departed. Ground agent in Rome briefed.
04:50	Part delivered airside at Fiumicino. Aircraft returned to service the same day.

From the first call to airside delivery in Rome: under five hours, and the aircraft flew again that day.

Where dangerous goods slow AOG down

Many AOG shipments involve hazardous materials — flammable fluids, oxygen generators, lithium batteries. Airlines apply zero tolerance to documentation errors, so an incorrect declaration doesn’t just cause a query; it can add hours to the grounding while the shipment is re-declared and re-presented.

That’s why DG classification sits inside our AOG process rather than alongside it. The part makes the flight because the paperwork was right the first time.

What to have ready when you call

Every detail you can give on the first call is time you don’t lose later:

• Part number and description, including any potential DG content.
• Collection address and out-of-hours access details.
• Destination airport, plus the MRO contact or ground handler name.
• Whether dangerous goods are involved, even if unconfirmed.

Speak to the AOG desk

When your flight schedule and your revenue are both at risk, you need a partner that works outside planned timelines. Our 24/7 AOG team and in-house dangerous goods expertise exist to get critical parts on the flight.

For immediate AOG support, contact the desk:

sales@scanlon-freight.co.uk +44 (0)20 8713 0100

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Source: Scanlon Freight Newsletter, April 2026.

We post freight and logistics insights several times a month — practical guidance on saving money, saving time and taking the stress out of shipping your products around the globe.