Qantas Freight

Qantas Airways was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. It is the country's flag carrier, with IATA code QF and ICAO code QFA, and its cargo business operates under the Qantas Freight brand. The network has long been built around Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, linking north to East and Southeast Asia, east across the Pacific to North America and south to New Zealand and the Pacific islands, forming a route system weighted toward the southern hemisphere while covering long trans-Pacific sectors.

Qantas Freight capacity comes from two sources. The first is passenger belly space, carried on the large passenger schedule of Qantas and its Jetstar group on domestic Australian and international routes. The second is dedicated freighters: Airbus A321P2F converted aircraft on domestic Australian, Tasman Sea and Australia-China and Australia-Hong Kong routes, and Boeing 747 long-haul freighters operated by partners under wet lease and joint arrangements. The long-haul freighters leave Sydney, make a technical stop in Shanghai or Chongqing, cross Anchorage and continue to North American hubs such as Chicago and New York, forming an important cargo corridor between the southern hemisphere, China and the North American mainland.

For Chinese shippers, Qantas Freight matters in two directions. First, it moves China-made machinery and electrical products, textiles and garments, e-commerce parcels and perishable cold-chain cargo from Shanghai Pudong, Chongqing and Hong Kong direct to major Australian cities, serving import distribution and retail replenishment in Australia. Second, its Shanghai Pudong to Anchorage, Chicago and New York freighter route lets Chinese exports connect through the Australian sector to the US east coast and Midwest, an alternative trans-Pacific path via the southern hemisphere.

Qantas began in 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services and has grown over a century into the core of the Qantas Group, which includes the Qantas main brand and the Jetstar low-cost brand. Cargo has long worked alongside the passenger network, using belly tonnage across the group fleet and adding owned and wet-leased freighters to supplement mainline capacity. Sydney Kingsford Smith is the group's main hub, with Brisbane and Melbourne as secondary hubs; the three cargo terminals back each other up for efficient transfer of Australian import and export traffic.

From a Chinese export perspective, Australia is one of China's most important trading partners in the South Pacific. Chinese shipments to Australia are mainly machinery and equipment, consumer electronics, textiles and garments, furniture and household goods, solar modules and e-commerce retail parcels. By combining freighters with belly space, Qantas Freight can take seasonal bulk exports as well as urgent, high-value, time-critical cargo, making it a carrier worth including in route planning for shippers in south and east China serving the Australian market.

The Qantas Group has the densest domestic network in Australia, and the cargo unit can distribute inbound freight quickly to secondary cities such as Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin, overcoming the limits of a single Sydney or Melbourne gateway. For Chinese shippers this means cargo handed over in Shanghai or Hong Kong can reach not only the Australian east coast but continue on domestic feeders to inland and west coast destinations, improving reach for a single shipment.

Qantas Freight has its own cargo sales and operations office at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, at 168 Suhang Road, Pudong Airport, with staff responsible for cargo compliance and sales development in China, working alongside ground agent PACTL at the Pudong airport cargo terminal for import and export traffic. The office takes bookings and waybill enquiries on business days, the terminal runs 24-hour ground handling, and customs and quarantine counters operate in published hours.

Shippers in south, north and southwest China can complete booking, document pre-check and capacity confirmation through Goodhope Logistics (China) Limited, which then deals with the Shanghai Pudong cargo office and the ground agent, so the shipper does not have to coordinate across regions. Freighter acceptance and handover for Chongqing and Hong Kong are coordinated through the same sales structure.

The Pudong terminal is operated by PACTL, Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminal Co., Ltd. Import and export traffic is accepted around the clock; customs and inspection counters operate in fixed slots on business days and on published duty hours at weekends and holidays. Before arranging delivery, shippers should have us check the documentation cut-off for the flight and the terminal's receiving status, so that incomplete manifest data does not cause a missed flight.

For shippers in north and southwest China who do not hand over at a Shanghai gateway, we can arrange domestic trucking to the Pudong terminal and include the cargo in the Qantas Freight booking manifest. Cargo for Chongqing is handed over at the technical stop of the 747 freighter. Hong Kong suits south China shippers handing over locally, with A321P2F freighters flying direct to Sydney and Perth.

The aircraft Qantas Freight deploys on China-Australia and trans-Pacific cargo work fall into dedicated freighters and passenger belly space. Freighters handle large-tonnage, heavy and palletised mainline cargo; belly space on Qantas passenger flights takes loose consignments and urgent shipments. Load forms and uses are set out as follows.

Routes actually served and frequencies change with the winter and summer seasons; confirm with the carrier on the day of booking.

Qantas Freight cargo services in China center on Shanghai Pudong, with Chongqing and Hong Kong as two additional points. Pudong handles dedicated freighters and has both a company cargo office and a terminal ground agent; Chongqing handles the technical stop and loading of the long-haul Boeing 747 freighter; Hong Kong handles the A321P2F regional freighter rotation. Main flights and frequencies (local times) are as follows.

Times are local. Frequencies change with the season; confirm with the carrier on the day of booking. The Chongqing and Shanghai Pudong freighter routes are part of a long trans-Pacific sector, so loading and documentation cut-offs come earlier than for general cargo.

Besides these scheduled flights, Qantas Freight carries belly cargo on passenger flights from Shanghai Pudong. Belly schedules follow the passenger timetable and are more frequent than freighters, but single-flight tonnage is smaller, which suits small and medium lots and high-value cargo. Shippers can mix the two: heavy bulk on freighter mainlines, urgent and small shipments in passenger bellies.

Qantas Freight network reach from China falls into three layers. The first is mainland Australia, entering through Sydney on direct passenger flights or freighters from Shanghai Pudong and Hong Kong, then distributing to Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, the Gold Coast and other cities, covering importers, retail chains and e-commerce fulfillment networks.

The second layer is New Zealand and the South Pacific, with freighters and belly capacity connecting Sydney and Auckland to Christchurch, Wellington, Nadi and Nouméa. Cargo from Shanghai can connect at an Australian hub to serve New Zealand's perishables, forestry and trade import demand.

The third layer is the North American mainland. Boeing 747 freighters leave Shanghai Pudong and Chongqing, make a technical stop at Anchorage and continue to Chicago O'Hare and New York Kennedy, with extensions to Los Angeles, Dallas and Honolulu. Chinese shippers can use this to place cargo in the US Midwest and east coast via a southern hemisphere routing, as alternative capacity to the traditional north Pacific lanes.

Cargo can also connect through Southeast Asian technical stops such as Bangkok to Qantas partner routes toward Europe and Africa, though such connections depend on the operating carrier and capacity at the time and must be confirmed separately.

For imports into Australia, Qantas Freight has established terminals and customs brokerage networks at the main gateways of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, and can arrange short-haul transfer from airport terminal to warehouse for importers. For New Zealand, cargo can connect in Sydney or Auckland and then distribute to Christchurch, Wellington, Queenstown and other cities on both islands, covering agricultural imports and retail replenishment.

Overall, cargo originating in China on the Qantas Freight network can reach all of Australia, the main New Zealand cities, some South Pacific island states and hubs on the US west coast, Midwest and east coast. This structure suits exporters serving both Australia and the US Midwest and east coast, since multi-directional cargo can be arranged under one carrier with simpler documentation and reconciliation. When planning the next quarter's export lanes, Chinese shippers should include Qantas Freight in any comparison for Australia and for a trans-Pacific alternative.

A century of airline safety.Qantas has a long record of safe operations, with mature crew training and maintenance systems for both freighter and passenger aircraft, keeping risk manageable for high-value cargo and precision instruments.Peak-season flexibility.Freighters and belly space run in parallel, so freighter schedules and belly allocations can be adjusted for the Australian pre-Christmas peak and the Chinese export peak, reserving flexible tonnage for regular shippers.Ample ULD supply.The long-haul Boeing 747 freighter carries a large number of standard air pallets, suited to production line materials, auto parts and large equipment, reducing loose-cargo build-up.

Chinese shippers do not need to deal with Qantas overseas sales offices directly; booking can be handled end to end by Goodhope Logistics (China) Limited. First, the shipper provides cargo details: commodity, pieces, weight and dimensions, declared value, whether batteries or dangerous goods are involved, transit time requirements and destination; we then work out whether a Qantas Freight freighter flight or a passenger belly option fits.

Second, we submit the booking instruction to the Shanghai Pudong cargo office and confirm flight number, capacity, documentation cut-off and pallet arrangements; for Chongqing and Hong Kong we coordinate with ground agent PACTL and the local terminal. Third, the shipper delivers cargo to our nominated warehouse in China or directly to the Pudong terminal for export declaration, security screening and handover.

Fourth, once the cargo is loaded and airborne we send the waybill details and flight status to the shipper; on arrival in Sydney or a North American hub, a local agent completes import clearance and last-mile delivery. We track documents and capacity throughout, so the shipper deals with one point of contact.

For first-time shippers we can provide indicative quotations and capacity forecasts, and recommend Qantas Express, Qantas Classic or freighter options according to cargo type. For regular exporters we can set up monthly settlement agreements with consolidated reconciliation, reducing the cost of individual rate requests and document handling.

Qantas Freight offers tiered products for special cargo. Qantas Express targets urgent, time-critical shipments with shortened acceptance and delivery; Qantas Classic covers general cargo with economical belly and freighter options; Qantas Mail carries postal and express mail traffic.

On special handling, the Pudong and Sydney terminals have cold rooms, freezers and strongrooms for temperature-controlled cargo, valuables and live animals. Dangerous goods are accepted under the Qantas dangerous goods manual and require prior test reports and compliant packing documents. For temporary peak-season volume or full-aircraft demand, freighter charters and wet-lease capacity can be arranged with Shanghai or Sydney as the origin and destination.

E-commerce and retail replenishment are a major use of Qantas Freight on the Australian lane. Australian online retail is time-sensitive, so cross-border e-commerce cargo from south and east China can use the direct Shanghai to Sydney freighters and belly flights to refill local Australian warehouses quickly. For perishables, pharmaceuticals and other temperature-controlled cargo, cold storage maintains the required range through acceptance, transfer and connection.

For cargo with batteries, magnetic items or oversize dimensions, shippers should declare accurately at booking so we can judge whether it meets Qantas Freight acceptance conditions and arrange any testing and packing in advance. Large engineering equipment and exhibition goods can also move on freighter pallets, with special handling at the Sydney or Brisbane terminal.