24/7 Time-Critical and AOG Air Freight from Riga

Unicore takes time-critical and AOG (aircraft on ground) shipments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including weekends, from and to Riga Airport (RIX). We book the cargo on the airline's fastest product: at Lufthansa Cargo that's td.Zoom, with the Emergency add-on when the uplift has to be guaranteed. With Turkish Cargo, Finnair Cargo and LOT Cargo we use their priority products. New York is seven hours and Los Angeles ten hours behind Riga, so cargo that leaves Riga on a morning flight can land in the US on the same date.

Time-critical is a speed, not a type of cargo. General cargo, dangerous goods, perishables and valuables can all be urgent, but each airline limits which of them can fly on its fastest product. The tables below show where those limits sit and what we do when the flights are full. For courier parcels and small packages, see our express shipping guide.

1. What we ship as time-critical

Most urgent shipments we handle fall into one of these situations. The last column shows what we usually book with Lufthansa Cargo; with other airlines we pick the equivalent product.

2. Lufthansa Cargo speeds: td.Pro, td.Flash and td.Zoom

Lufthansa Cargo builds every booking from three parts: a Product (the type of cargo, such as General Cargo or Dangerous Goods), a Speed and, if needed, an add-on service. There are three Speeds, and they differ in how sure the cargo is to get on the flight and how fast it moves through the hub.

Which cargo can fly at which speed

td.Zoom isn't open to every kind of cargo. Perishables and active temperature-controlled containers fly at td.Flash at most, and Valuables and Live Animals only at td.Flash. Passive temperature-controlled cargo can fly td.Zoom, but it gets no cold storage at the hubs, so the packaging has to hold the temperature on its own. Exceptions can apply for some commodities and routings.

3. Landing in New York and Los Angeles the same day

The time difference works for you. Cargo that leaves Riga on the first Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt makes a midday transatlantic departure and lands in the US in the early afternoon, local time, on the same date.

• In the winter 2026/27 season LH893 flies on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. On other days the first Lufthansa flight is LH891 at 14:35, and the cargo lands in the US the next day.
• Cargo for the 06:05 flight usually has to be at Lufthansa's handling agent in Riga the evening before.
• The Riga–Frankfurt leg is an A320, so the cargo travels as loose pieces in the hold, with no pallets or containers. Large parts or engines need a truck to Frankfurt or a freighter.
• "Same day" means the aircraft lands that day. US import clearance and delivery to the door come after that, so we agree the handover time with the consignee.
• Finnair can't do it from Riga: the Helsinki flights are ATR 72s, which FIRST doesn't cover, so the cargo goes to Helsinki by truck and lands in the US the next day at the earliest. Via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, Los Angeles is also next day.

Local times from the winter 2026/27 schedules, checked on 2 October 2026. US arrival times apply from 1 November; between 25 and 31 October they are one hour later. Airlines change schedules, so we check the flight before booking.

4. Priority products at Turkish Cargo, Finnair Cargo and LOT Cargo

These airlines fly from Riga or truck cargo from Riga to their hubs, and each has its own top tier for urgent cargo. Which handling agent serves each airline at RIX is on our Riga air cargo handling page.

5. When the flights are full: on-board courier, charter, truck to a hub

Riga has fewer flights than Frankfurt or Helsinki, and most of them are narrowbody aircraft with small holds. If the next flights are full, or the pieces won't fit, there are three ways round it.

Before booking we check that each piece fits the aircraft's cargo door and hold. You can check it yourself with our aircraft cargo compatibility checker.

6. AOG shipments: documents and dangerous goods

AOG means an aircraft can't fly until a part is replaced. Every hour on the ground costs the operator money, so we send these parts on the first available flight. The paperwork has to be right before departure, though, or the part gets stuck at customs or at acceptance.

• An invoice or pro forma invoice with the part number, serial number and value.
• The release certificate, usually EASA Form 1 or FAA 8130-3. Parts for civil aircraft can qualify for EU customs duty relief when the certificate travels with the part, so we check it before the cargo lands.
• A Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods (DGD) if the part contains hazardous material. Aircraft parts often do: lithium batteries, fire extinguisher bottles, escape slides with gas cylinders, engines and pumps with fuel residue. Chemical oxygen generators may fly on cargo aircraft only. Unicore is IATA DGR certified and prepares the declaration itself, see our dangerous goods guide.
• A consignee contact who can be reached at night, and the exact delivery point, such as a hangar or the aircraft stand.

For AOG parts flown into Riga, we start customs clearance while the cargo is still in the air. See customs clearance at Riga Airport for how that works.

7. How to book an urgent shipment with us

1. 1Call, email or chat and tell us about the cargo (what we need is listed below). Out of office hours, call: an email can sit until morning.
2. 2We check flights and space on every leg and come back with options and a price, usually within the hour.
3. 3Once you confirm, we book the flight (td.Zoom, Emergency or the equivalent), send a van for pickup and prepare the air waybill, export declaration and DGD if needed.
4. 4The cargo is screened for security and delivered to the airline's warehouse before the latest acceptance time. Cargo from a known consignor skips the screening step.
5. 5We follow the shipment until it is delivered and tell you at each step: departure, transfer at the hub, arrival, customs release and delivery.

Frequently asked questions