Air Cargo Height Limit: How Tall Can a Shipment Be?

The 163 cm lower-deck rule, the 305 cm freighter main-deck rule, and why crates between 270 and 300 cm often travel cheaper by air than by sea.

The height rule every shipper should know

The most common reason oversized cargo cannot fly is not weight — it is the outer packing being too tall to fit the aircraft. Molds, machines, instruments, glass and engineered materials all end up needing air transport at some point, so it pays to know the exact height thresholds before you build a crate.

163 cm: the limit for regular air cargo

The maximum height for standard air cargo is 163 cm; as a working rule we recommend staying under 160 cm. Anything at or below that height can be loaded on passenger aircraft and freighters alike and flown to virtually any airport in the world.

The reason is the container system. Cargo does not go into the aircraft loose: it is packed into standard unit load devices (ULDs) — AKE, DPE, ALF, AMP, DQF, AMA — which slot into the lower deck of the aircraft in neat rows. Across aircraft types, the internal height of those lower-deck containers is 163 cm, so a crate within that envelope needs no airline pre-check at all. The lower holds of the B747, B747F, B747 Combi, B767, B777, A330 and A340 all share the same 163 cm limit.

305 cm: the freighter main-deck limit

What about cargo taller than 163 cm? The main deck of most freighter aircraft tops out at about 305 cm — a little over three meters, roughly 30 cm higher than a 40 ft high-cube sea container (2,697 mm).

That gap explains a market quirk: a lot of cargo between 270 cm and 300 cm actually moves by air. Time-wise, air beats ocean by weeks. Cost-wise, tall cargo by sea needs an open-top container (OT), whose freight runs several times a standard box — and open-top moves as full container load only, with no LCL option, while air has no such rule. For crates in the 270–300 cm band, air freight is frequently cheaper than ocean. That is why so many overheight shipments in the market end up on freighters.

Taller than 163 cm? Check these two things first

A crate that exceeds the 163 cm pallet limit but stays under 305 cm is not automatically flyable. Two conditions decide it:

1. Does the lane have a freighter? Only all-cargo aircraft have a main deck. On a passenger-only lane, the lower deck is all you get.
2. Will the airline accept the piece? Acceptance is at the airline's discretion based on loadability and safety.

In normal times, passenger bellies account for well over 70% of worldwide air cargo capacity. Dedicated freighters are scarce, and most of them fly for UPS, FedEx and DHL. The carriers with genuine freighter fleets include Emirates, Turkish Airlines, China Airlines, EVA Air, Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific, American Airlines and Lufthansa.

Related size rules

• Height limit of the air cargo pallet (PMC palette): 163 cm on the lower deck
• Per-piece weight and size limits vary by aircraft type and airport handling equipment
• How much fits on a single pallet depends on density, not just dimensions

For the length side of the same question — how long a piece can fly — see our air cargo length limit guide.