How to Run an Air Freight Business in GTA V Online

Air Freight Cargo Quick Facts

How Air Freight Cargo works

Register as a CEO/VIP or MC president, head to your hangar office, and start a source mission from the Free Trade Shipping computer. Your first mission is always a fixed setup: stealing a Mogul plane guarded by the Lost MC. After that, the regular rotation opens up. (If you'd rather run this as an MC president, our Motorcycle Clubhouse guide covers that side of the business.)

Sourcing is completely free. Unlike Special Cargo, where you buy crates before you can flip them, Air Freight only asks for your time. The catch: a solo player usually brings back 1 crate per run (some missions offer up to 4 with a full crew), so filling all 50 slots solo takes around 50 runs. Crews fill a hangar dramatically faster because everyone carries cargo on the same mission.

Source missions come in a wide variety of types, and the San Andreas Mercenaries update added more solo-friendly land-based source missions to the pool, so you're not stuck flying every run. The two Fort Zancudo hangars sit in the middle of the map and cut travel time on most missions; check them on the interactive map.

Choose your cargo type (and don't mix)

There are 8 cargo types, and every crate has the same base value: GTA$ 30,000. The only thing that separates the types is the single-type storage bonus, which grows as you stack same-type crates:

The play for maximum profit: fill all 50 crates with ONE top-tier type (Narcotics, Chemicals, or Medical Supplies) for the full +70% bonus. That lifts the GTA$ 1,500,000 base sale to GTA$ 2,550,000, and up to GTA$ 3,825,000 in a busy public lobby thanks to the High Demand bonus.

Don't mix cargo types if you can help it. Storage bonuses are earned per type, so a mixed hangar only picks up the smaller per-type bonuses on whatever happens to stack. It sells a little above the GTA$ 1,500,000 base (which is your pre-bonus floor), well short of a single-type haul for the same 50 runs of work. The lower tiers only reach a small bonus sooner (mid tier at 10 crates, low tier at 5), so they're only relevant if you deliberately sell tiny batches; for a full hangar, the top tier is strictly best.

Selling: land vs air (the choice that matters solo)

When you start a sell mission, you choose a delivery method: Land or Air. The Land options arrived with the San Andreas Mercenaries update in June 2023, and they changed this business for solo players.

Land gives a solo player a single ground delivery vehicle. The missions use the Vagrant, Outlaw, or Apocalypse Issi, a Phantom with a trailer, or the Ratel; extra vehicles only appear when you have extra organization members. Faster, safer, ideal solo.

Air means multiple aircraft, drop-offs scattered across the map, and enemy pursuit on the way. One air mission uses the RM-10 Bombushka, which requires a second player as a gunner and cannot be started solo at all.

Whichever you pick, you get 20 minutes to deliver all stock, and Ron takes a 5% cut per crate.

So here's the solo answer, stated plainly: if you want to sell Air Freight Cargo solo, source your crates and sell by land. The number of delivery vehicles is driven by your organization size and the land/air choice, not by how many crates you're selling, so there's no stock cutoff to sweat, unlike bunker sell missions, where stock level decides your vehicle count.

For orientation, the sell mission pool looks like this:

• Air: Havok, RM-10 Bombushka (needs 2 players), Skylift, Cargobob, Hunter, Mogul, Alpha-Z1, Seabreeze

• Land: Vagrant/Apocalypse Issi/Outlaw, Phantom & Trailer, Ratel

Trade price unlocks

Every source mission you complete also counts toward permanent trade (discount) prices on 14 aircraft at Warstock Cache & Carry and Elitas Travel, based on your cumulative total of completed source missions. Since a solo fill takes around 50 source runs anyway, you'll clear the entire ladder over the course of one full stockpile:

Rooster McCraw: low-effort sourcing

The San Andreas Mercenaries update added Rooster McCraw, a hangar staffer who sources crates for you in the background. Each dispatch costs GTA$ 25,000 and brings back 1 to 2 crates of a random type in roughly 48 minutes. After Ron's 5% cut at sale, that works out to about GTA$ 3,500 net on a one-crate dispatch and about GTA$ 32,000 on a two-crate dispatch, so the two-crate rolls are where the value is.

It is low-effort, not hands-free. You have to be online and in the session, pay the GTA$ 25,000 each time, and re-dispatch him every cycle when he returns, so treat it as a semi-passive trickle you top up while you play, not idle income you collect while logged off.

The bigger catch is that word "random". Rooster's crates come in mixed types, which breaks the single-type storage bonus. A hangar filled this way sells around its GTA$ 1,500,000 base value (a little more once a random fill crosses the smaller per-type bonus thresholds), well short of the GTA$ 2,550,000 a hand-sourced single-type stockpile brings in. The trade-price unlock ladder above also only advances on source missions you complete yourself.

Verdict: use Rooster to fill a hangar with low effort or to stockpile ahead of a bonus week; source manually when you're chasing the full single-type payout.

Is Air Freight worth it?

Solo grinding works, but it's slow: expect roughly GTA$ 350,000 to GTA$ 600,000 per hour. And this is not a beginner business; a hangar costs millions before you source a single crate (see the hangar guide for what that entry ticket looks like).

Where Air Freight shines is 2x bonus weeks and crew play. Bonus weeks double an already-large single-type payout, and a crew brings more crates per run and makes the harder missions trivial.

Bottom line: treat it as background income and a bonus-week payday if you play solo, or a serious grind if you have a crew.

Air Freight FAQ

Can you sell Air Freight Cargo solo?
Yes. Choose the Land delivery option and you get a single delivery vehicle regardless of how full your hangar is. Only avoid Air sells, since one of those missions (the RM-10 Bombushka) requires a second player.

How much does a full hangar sell for?
A full 50-crate hangar of one top-tier type (Narcotics, Chemicals, or Medical Supplies) sells for GTA$ 2,550,000, and up to GTA$ 3,825,000 in a populated public lobby with High Demand. Mixed cargo sells for a little above the GTA$ 1,500,000 base, since only partial per-type bonuses apply.

Should I mix cargo types?
No. Mixing forfeits the single-type storage bonus, which is worth up to +70% on top-tier cargo. Stick to one of Narcotics, Chemicals, or Medical Supplies for a full hangar.

Land or air delivery: which is better?
Land, especially solo. Land sells use one ground vehicle for a solo player, while air sells involve multiple aircraft and scattered drop-offs. Vehicle count depends on your organization size, not your crate count.

Is Rooster McCraw worth using?
For low-effort filling, yes: GTA$ 25,000 per dispatch for 1 to 2 crates roughly every 48 minutes, which nets about GTA$ 3,500 to 32,000 after Ron's cut depending on the roll. It's semi-passive rather than hands-free, though, since you have to stay online and re-dispatch him each cycle. If you're stacking one cargo type for the +70% bonus, skip him, because his crates are a random type and break single-type storage.

How long does it take to fill a hangar solo?
Around 50 source runs, since solo players usually bring back 1 crate per mission. A crew fills the same 50 slots far faster because everyone carries cargo on each run.