Air freight from China to USA is the fast lane of shipping from China to the US: cargo leaves Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou or Hong Kong and lands at a US warehouse in three to ten days instead of three to six weeks by sea. Platton books the air freight leg as its own import service, with the rate quoted per chargeable kilogram and the entry prepared before the aircraft lands. Below are the current rate bands out of China, the transit clock by service level, the airports on both ends, and the customs rules that apply to air cargo and not to ocean.
Get a QuoteAir freight rates from the main Chinese airports to the US sit between $3.50 and $6.50 per chargeable kilogram for general cargo in normal weeks, and the number moves with the weight of the shipment more than with anything else. Airlines and consolidators price in breaks, so a 320 kg shipment pays a lower rate per kilo than a 95 kg one on the same flight. The bands below are the planning brackets Platton uses across the China lane, reviewed monthly against booked rates; the weekly movement sits in the Platton Import Index.
Estimated air rates, China to the US, general cargo
| Chargeable weight | Estimated rate per kg | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Under 100 kg | $5.50 to $6.50 | Small restocks, samples, first runs |
| 100 to 300 kg | $4.50 to $6.00 | The most common importer shipment |
| 300 to 1,000 kg | $4.00 to $5.50 | Consolidation territory |
| Over 1,000 kg | $3.50 to $5.00 | Pallet loads, launch inventory |
Every band carries a minimum charge of roughly $100 to $200, and the peak weeks before Golden Week and the year-end holidays add $1 to $3 per kilogram on top. How the bands are built and how to read a quote line by line is covered in our guide to air freight cost per kilogram.
The same 200 kg from Shenzhen can fly three ways. Express moves on the next available uplift and lands at your door in about three days. Standard rides a consolidation with a fixed cutoff and arrives in five to eight days. Deferred waits for open space and takes eight to ten, in exchange for the bottom of the band.
Service levels from China to the US
| Service | Pickup to delivery | Estimated rate per kg | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express | About 3 days | $6.50 to $10.00 | Stockouts, missed retail dates |
| Standard | 5 to 8 days | $4.00 to $6.50 | Regular restocks, launches with a buffer |
| Deferred | 8 to 10 days | $3.50 to $5.00 | Dense cargo where a few days do not matter |
West Coast gateways price lowest because the sector is shortest and the freighter capacity deepest. Chicago and the East Coast add $0.50 to $1.00 per kilogram for the longer flight or the hub connection. Temperature-controlled cargo pays for the active container and the priority handling on both ends.
Estimated standard air rates by airport pair
| Origin to gateway | General cargo per kg | Temperature controlled per kg |
|---|---|---|
| Shanghai (PVG) to Los Angeles (LAX) | $4.50 to $6.50 | $7.00 to $9.50 |
| Shenzhen or Hong Kong (SZX, HKG) to Chicago (ORD) | $5.00 to $7.00 | $7.50 to $10.00 |
| Shanghai (PVG) to New York (JFK) | $5.00 to $7.50 | $7.50 to $10.50 |
| Guangzhou (CAN) to Los Angeles (LAX) | $4.50 to $6.50 | $7.00 to $9.50 |
| Beijing (PEK) to New York (JFK) | $5.00 to $7.50 | $7.50 to $10.50 |
A Platton air quote lists the fee lines apart so the per-kilogram figure can be compared with any other: the air freight rate, the fuel surcharge (15 to 25 percent of the base rate in 2026, moving with jet fuel), the security screening fee of about $0.50 per kilogram, terminal handling at origin and destination, the documentation fee, and a dangerous goods premium of roughly 40 percent when the cargo needs a Class 9 declaration. Customs entry, duty and the airport pickup sit on their own lines below the freight.
Cheap air freight from China to the USA is a matter of four decisions made before the booking, not of finding a forwarder with a lower list price. Consolidate, pack dense, book outside the peak calendar, and fly only the part of the order that cannot wait.
A 120 kg shipment booked alone pays the under-300 band. The same cartons loaded into a Platton consolidation out of Shanghai or Hong Kong ride the 300 to 1,000 kg rate, because the airline sees one house shipment of six hundred kilos. Deferred service on top of that takes the rate to the bottom of the band; for cargo where a week of buffer exists, the combination is the lowest figure a general cargo shipment from China will see.
Airlines charge the greater of actual and volumetric weight, and at the air divisor one cubic meter bills as 167 kg, so light, bulky goods lose that comparison every time. Tighter master cartons, shipping knocked-down instead of assembled, and molded pulp instead of foam inserts each take real kilos off the chargeable weight. Run your packing list through the chargeable weight calculator before you ask for a rate.
China closes for Golden Week from October 1 to 7, 2026, and the two weeks before it are the most expensive air weeks of the year outside December. The holiday build-up from mid-October to early December keeps rates $1 to $3 per kilogram above the summer level. Lunar New Year starts on February 6, 2027; factories rush orders out the two weeks before and go quiet for two to three weeks after. The cheapest window on the lane runs from late February to May. A booking placed two to three weeks ahead of a peak date holds space at the contracted rate; one placed the same week pays the spot market.
Flying an entire container's worth of goods is rarely the cheapest answer. Air the two or three SKUs that are about to stock out, and leave the rest on the vessel. Our ocean-to-air restock guide shows the arithmetic, and the air versus ocean comparison covers where the breakeven sits for a given value per kilo.
The flight from Shanghai to Los Angeles takes about twelve hours; the shipment takes days. Export screening, the consolidation cutoff, the arrival handling and the customs entry fill the calendar around the flight, which is why the service level you book predicts the delivery date better than the airline does.
Transit times, China to the US, by service level
| Service | Airport to airport | Pickup to delivery |
|---|---|---|
| Express | 1 to 2 days | About 3 days |
| Standard | 2 to 4 days | 5 to 8 days |
| Deferred | 4 to 6 days | 8 to 10 days |
A direct freighter from Shanghai, Hong Kong or Guangzhou saves about a day against a connection through Seoul, Tokyo or Anchorage. Getting the direct flight depends on the booking, not the origin.
Standard service, day by day
| Stage | Time |
|---|---|
| Pickup and export formalities in China | 1 to 2 days |
| Consolidation cutoff and uplift | 1 to 2 days |
| Flight and connections | 1 to 2 days; 12 to 16 hours nonstop |
| Arrival handling and customs entry | 1 day |
| Delivery from the airport | 1 day |
The stages that slip are the first and the last, not the flight. A supplier who has the commercial invoice and packing list ready on the day of collection keeps the export side to one day; a delivery address with a booked dock keeps the airport side to one. The full breakdown by origin is in our air freight transit times guide.
Five airports handle most of the commercial air cargo leaving China for the US, and each one suits a different supplier region.
Shanghai Pudong carries the largest air cargo volume in China and the most weekly freighter departures to the US. It serves the Yangtze River Delta factories in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and is the default origin for anything picked up within a day's drive of Shanghai, Suzhou, Ningbo or Hangzhou.
Guangzhou Baiyun and Shenzhen Bao'an split the Pearl River Delta. Shenzhen is the electronics origin: phones, boards, batteries in equipment and accessories from Dongguan and Huizhou clear through SZX or truck across to Hong Kong when the frequency is better. Guangzhou takes the apparel, home goods and appliance cargo from the western side of the delta.
Hong Kong is the deepest freighter market in Asia and the pressure valve for South China. When Shenzhen space tightens before a peak, Platton trucks the cargo across the border and uplifts from HKG on the same day. The extra road leg costs a few hours and often buys a better rate and a direct flight.
Beijing Capital serves the northern manufacturing belt around Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong with direct Air China Cargo routes into New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. It is the right origin for cargo that would otherwise spend two days on a truck to Shanghai.
Platton flies China cargo into Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Dallas, Atlanta and Miami, chosen from the delivery address backwards so the airport dray is short. As the air freight forwarder on the booking and a WCA and JCtrans network member, Platton holds space with Lufthansa Cargo, Cargolux and Qatar Airways Cargo out of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou through the pre-holiday weeks when belly space sells out early. LAX takes the West Coast and the largest share of the lane; ORD redistributes to the Midwest and the Northeast by truck; JFK serves the Northeast direct. Where cargo continues to a warehouse or fulfillment center, the truck options are the same as on the ocean side of the lane, described on our Los Angeles, Chicago and New York route pages.
An air shipment from China enters the US under the same duty and the same tariff lists as a container, but with a shorter document set and two fees fewer. Knowing which rules drop away is worth real money on a small shipment.
The Importer Security Filing applies to ocean cargo only, so there is no ISF, no 24-hour rule and no $5,000 ISF exposure on an air shipment. The Merchandise Processing Fee applies to every formal entry regardless of mode: 0.3464 percent of the entered value, with a minimum of $32.71 and a cap of $634.62 per entry in 2026. The Harbor Maintenance Fee is charged on ocean cargo only, so air shipments skip its 0.125 percent. The airline transmits the manifest to CBP four hours before landing, and the entry is prepared from the house air waybill and the commercial invoice before the aircraft arrives, so the cargo releases from the import terminal on the day it lands in the normal case. The sequence step by step is on our customs clearance page.
The Section 301 China lists add 7.5 to 25 percent on top of the base duty for most Chinese-origin goods, and the tariff follows the HTS code and the country of origin, not the aircraft. Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum and copper articles, 25 percent on most covered goods and up to 50 percent on certain steel lines since June 2026, apply to metal-heavy parts and machinery on the same basis. Platton prices the estimated duty and the 301 line into the quote against the HTS codes you confirm, so the landed figure is on the table before the flight is booked.
The $800 duty-free de minimis entry ended for Chinese and Hong Kong goods on May 2, 2025, and for every origin on August 29, 2025; the suspension became indefinite on June 24, 2026 for all channels other than the postal network. Every commercial air shipment from China now enters with duty and MPF assessed, whether it is 20 kg or two tons. What replaced Section 321 and how small shipments are entered is in our de minimis guide.
Most consumer goods, components, apparel and machinery parts fly as general cargo. Three groups need a dangerous goods declaration, and the commodity is the first question on a Platton air quote because it decides which aircraft and which rate apply.
Standalone lithium-ion cells and packs ship as UN3480, are barred from passenger aircraft, move cargo-aircraft-only at no more than 30 percent state of charge, and carry Class 9 labels and a shipper's declaration. Batteries packed with or inside equipment ship as UN3481 with more routing options but the same paperwork. The DG premium runs about 40 percent over general cargo. Packing, labeling and the carrier acceptance rules are in our guide to shipping lithium batteries, and the wider compliance picture for electronics importers sits on the industry page.
Magnetized material is general cargo only if the field strength measured at 2.1 meters stays below 0.159 A/m; above that it ships as Class 9, and above 0.418 A/m at 4.6 meters it does not fly at all. Aerosols, from hairspray to spray adhesive, are dangerous goods with no consumer exemption and need DG packing and a declaration. Speakers, motors and shielded magnet assemblies from Shenzhen fly routinely once the test certificate is on the file.
Cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, reagents and perishables move in active containers or passive thermal packaging at the temperature-controlled rate from the tables above. Platton books the container with the airline, confirms the cold room at the US gateway and schedules the pickup for the hour the shipment is released, so the cold chain does not break on the tarmac.
Step 1. Send the packing list, the pickup city and the delivery address. The quote comes back with the flight, the transit window, the chargeable weight and the all-in rate per kilogram.
Step 2. Platton collects the cargo from the factory or the supplier warehouse and books it into the export terminal at PVG, SZX, CAN, HKG or PEK.
Step 3. Export screening and the Chinese export declaration are completed against the commercial invoice and packing list, and the house air waybill is issued.
Step 4. The cargo departs on the booked flight, nonstop or through a hub, with the tracking visible from the air waybill number onward.
Step 5. The entry is prepared from the air waybill and invoice before arrival, with duty, the Section 301 line and MPF calculated.
Step 6. CBP releases the shipment at the import terminal and the cargo is collected inside the airline's free time.
Step 7. Airport drayage or LTL delivers to your warehouse, 3PL or Amazon fulfillment center on the appointment booked.
Some importers want the whole flight handled as one booking: collection in Shenzhen or Shanghai, export screening, the uplift, the US entry and the truck to their dock, under one tracking number and one invoice. Platton offers it on the China air lane, and the combined booking service is described on its own page.
General cargo runs $3.50 to $6.50 per chargeable kilogram in 2026, with shipments under 100 kg at the top of that range and pallet loads over 1,000 kg at the bottom. Express service costs $6.50 to $10.00 per kilogram. Every shipment carries a minimum charge of about $100 to $200, and the peak weeks before Golden Week and December add $1 to $3 per kilogram. Fuel, security and handling sit inside the quoted rate; duty, entry and delivery are listed apart.
Consolidate to reach the 300 kg or 1,000 kg break, pack dense so volumetric weight does not overtake actual weight, book standard or deferred service two to three weeks ahead, and avoid the fortnight before Golden Week and the December cutoff. Fly only the SKUs that are about to stock out and leave the rest on the vessel. Together those moves take a 200 kg shipment from the $6 band to the $4 band.
Shanghai Pudong and Hong Kong carry the most nonstop freighter departures to Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, followed by Guangzhou. Shenzhen has fewer direct US flights, so electronics cargo from the Pearl River Delta often trucks to Hong Kong for a same-day uplift. Beijing serves the northern factories with direct Air China Cargo routes. A direct flight saves about one day against a hub connection.
Yes. The two weeks before Golden Week, October 1 to 7, 2026, and the two weeks before Lunar New Year on February 6, 2027, are the tightest capacity of the year, with rates $1 to $3 per kilogram above the summer level and space gone by midweek. The year-end holiday build-up from mid-October to early December runs high for the same reason. Bookings placed two to three weeks ahead hold contracted space; same-week bookings pay the spot market.
No Importer Security Filing, no Harbor Maintenance Fee, and a shorter document set. The Merchandise Processing Fee still applies at 0.3464 percent of entered value, capped at $634.62 per entry in 2026, and the base duty plus the Section 301 line follow the HTS code exactly as they do by sea. The airline files the manifest four hours before landing and the entry is prepared from the air waybill before arrival, so release normally happens on the day the aircraft lands.
Yes. Duty is set by the HTS classification and the Section 301 China lists add 7.5 to 25 percent on most goods, whether the cargo flies or sails. The $800 de minimis exemption that once covered small parcels from China ended in 2025 and is suspended indefinitely since June 24, 2026, so a 30 kg air shipment now enters with duty and MPF like a container. Platton prices the estimated duty into the quote before the booking.
Often, but compare it against express courier first. Below about 45 kg the minimum charge and the terminal fees make an integrator courier service to your door at $6 to $10 per kilogram the cheaper number. Between 45 and 100 kg, consolidated air freight at $5.50 to $6.50 per kilogram plus a $100 to $200 minimum usually wins, and the gap widens with every kilo. Above 100 kg, air freight is the clear answer.
Send the packing list, the pickup city and the delivery address. The quote names the flight, the transit window, the chargeable weight and the all-in rate per kilogram, with duty, the Section 301 line and the airport delivery listed apart so the landed figure is on the table before anything is booked.
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