Dangerous Goods Compliance in Air Freight

DG compliance isn’t a box-ticking exercise — it’s what keeps your shipment on the flight.

The single most common reason an urgent dangerous goods shipment misses its flight isn’t availability. It’s paperwork. Airlines will not accept non-compliant DG cargo under any circumstances, however urgent the consignment.

In aerospace, pharma, hi-tech and energy, dangerous goods are a constant variable, and one that tends to surface at exactly the wrong moment. So rather than treating compliance as a final checkpoint, we build it into every stage of the process. The complexity of IATA regulations should never be the thing that grounds your shipment.

How dangerous goods show up in your sector

The IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations define nine hazard classes. Here is how they typically appear across the industries we serve:

Sector	Class / UN Number	Common items
Aerospace	Class 3 / Class 8	Flammable hydraulic fluids, lubricants, corrosive cleaning agents
Pharma	Class 6.2 (UN3373 / UN2814)	Biological specimens and infectious substances. Packing instruction depends on category
Hi-tech	Class 9	Lithium-ion and lithium metal batteries. State-of-charge limits apply
Energy	Class 7 / Class 2	Radioactive instrumentation and compressed gases in portable equipment

The three most common reasons airlines reject DG cargo

Most compliance failures are avoidable mistakes made under time pressure.

Incorrect or missing UN number. A single-digit error triggers immediate rejection at acceptance, and by then you have lost the flight.

Shipper’s Declaration errors. Precision is mandatory here. Mistakes in packing groups or net quantities, and missing signatures, are non-negotiable failures.

Packaging non-compliance. Containers must be UN-approved and aligned to the correct IATA packing instruction. Damaged or mislabelled packaging gets grounded on the spot.

Our pre-classification checklist

We work through this with clients before anything moves, because every hour spent here saves several at the airline’s acceptance desk.

1. Identify all products containing potentially hazardous materials.
2. Confirm the UN number, hazard class and packing group for each.
3. Identify the correct IATA packing instruction.
4. Determine whether the shipment is Passenger Aircraft (PAX) or Cargo Aircraft Only (CAO).
5. Confirm approved packaging is available.
6. Share documentation with your freight partner in advance.

Talk to a DG specialist

Ready to de-risk your dangerous goods shipments? Contact Scanlon Freight today to review your commodities and secure your flight space.

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Source: Scanlon Freight Newsletter, April 2026.

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