How does airmail work?

monty0703 | 21:05 Mon 24th Jan 2011 | How it Works

8 Answers

If I sent a letter to Arizona from Aberdeen, what route does the letter go? Is it flown to London then to a depot somewhere in the US where it is sorted and dispatched to it's final destination? Are commercial planes used or does Royal Mail have it's own plane?

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AlBags

It is routed through various sorting offices by truck or aircraft to get it to it's destination.
Often from local national airports to do the long hops. Royal Mail have own charters and usually operate overnight.

DTCwordfan

As the Royal Snail is so slow in its delivery, a plane would fall out of the sky.

Andyvon

Many airlines and cargo lines have contracts to carry mail on their regular routes. It's a guaranteed income.

JonnyBoy12

Does that mean they have a contract to carry letter bombs on their planes as well, or is the mail x-rayed first?

Buenchico

Most airmail to and from the UK goes via Liverpool John Lennon airport. Mail from Aberdeen to Arizona would probably go by road to Liverpool, as there are very few internal mail transfers by air within the UK mainland. The flight from there might go direct to the USA or it could be routed via a European hub (such as Amsterdam). The flights are operated by carriers like DHL, who carry mail around the world.

Within the USA mail is normally carried by air. The United States Postal Service doesn't own any aircraft. Instead it has contracts with firms like UPS, FedEx and Emery Worldwide. It also sends mail in the holds of passenger airliners operated by American Airlines and United Airlines. As in the UK, the final stage of delivery is by road.

Chris

monty0703

Question Author

thanks guys.

LAX001

In this document from IATA / UPU about electronic messaging for airmail you can see the step-by-step process of airmail:

http://www.iata.org/w...rochure-10jan2010.pdf

In your case the letter from Aberdeen probably goes to Chicago via London ; Chicago is the central hub for USPS ; normally the postal companies handle each other's mail.

LAX001

Take a look at this site for an overview of the airmail chain and differences with the normal air cargo chain: http://air-cargo-how-...2/air-mail-chain.html

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