Definition
Goods, freight, or mail transported by aircraft, as distinct from passengers. Air cargo operations are conducted by dedicated freight carriers or by passenger airlines that carry shipments in the lower holds of their aircraft.
Plain English
Stuff — packages, freight, and mail — that gets flown from one place to another instead of people.
Context Anchor
Seen in airline history, airline operations, and regulations when discussing the business of carrying goods by aircraft.
Derivation
Cargo comes from the Spanish cargar, meaning 'to load.' Air cargo simply means a load carried by air rather than by ship, truck, or rail.
Why Pilots Care
Determines whether a pilot may be assigned to passenger, mixed, or all-cargo flights and affects route planning and aircraft loading.
Intuition Check
Do not read “air cargo” as passengers or as the airplane itself. In this context, it means goods being moved by aircraft.
Example Sentence 1
After the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, air cargo carriers expanded rapidly, opening new routes across the country.
Example Sentence 2
The pilot reviewed the load manifest showing the weight and distribution of air cargo in the forward hold.