Federal obligations in nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation (NAICS 481212)

Charter freight lift versus building or maintaining airplanes

NAICS 481212 covers establishments that provide nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation. On USAspending.gov the code tags contract awards classified as that lift: cargo charters, including military logistics flying that contracting officers place on this line. It is not a count of sorties, tons, or aircraft owned. Scheduled freight and passenger codes are different NAICS lines.

Aircraft manufacturing is 336411. Other support activities for air transportation (488190) are servicing and related support, not the flight itself. A logistics program can buy charter lift under 481212 and depot support under 488190. The $32.6 billion figure is only awards tagged 481212.

Reading $32.6 billion in charter obligations

USAspending records obligations on contract awards tagged 481212. Task orders against charter vehicles, civil reserve-style activations that appear as contracts, and modifications all feed $32,640,700,858.73. This packet has no fiscal-year split and no outlay total. A surge period can add large obligations on relatively few vehicles.

Outlays are the payments for missions flown. Quote $32.6 billion as USAspending contract obligations coded to nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation. Do not describe it as an airlift budget line or as cash already paid.

3,502 awards on a flying-services code

The 3,502 award records are contracting actions, not flights. One charter contract can cover many missions. Compared with parts manufacturing, this is a thinner record set with large individual actions. Open the industry page for the award list rather than inferring a small set of carriers from the headline alone.

Charter lift is a services NAICS that looks like logistics and gets misquoted as procurement of airplanes. It is not. USAspending awards tagged 481212 carry $32,640,700,858.73 in obligations on 3,502 records. Those records are contracting actions for nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation. A surge task order can add a large obligation without adding a new carrier. Fuel tagged 324110, maintenance tagged 488190, and airframes tagged 336411 are neighboring logistics dollars that do not belong in a 481212 citation. Keep 3,502 with the $32.6 billion figure. Keep outlays out. Keep sortie counts out; they are not in the facts. The industry page is the award list under the headline.

What 481212 excludes

Assistance awards often lack NAICS and are outside this total. Passenger charter, if tagged to a passenger NAICS, sits elsewhere. Fuel bought from refineries is 324110. Those neighboring tables are separate rollups.

SpendingVault aggregates USAspending.gov contract data. The $32,640,700,858.73 total and the 3,502 award count can change after corrections. The live industry page is the table of record.

Using the chartered-freight industry page

Open the NONSCHEDULED CHARTERED FREIGHT AIR TRANSPORTATION industry page for the award list under the headline. Compare 481212 with 488190 and with aircraft manufacturing on All industries. Cite obligations, not outlays, and keep the 3,502 award count with the dollar figure.

Citing charter lift without sorties or airframes

Cite $32,640,700,858.73 in USAspending obligations on 3,502 awards tagged NAICS 481212, nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation. Say flying cargo on charter, not manufacturing the airplane and not servicing it on the ground.

The 3,502 award count is not flights. One vehicle can cover many missions. Fuel tagged to refineries is a different code and is not in this packet. Outlays are payments for lift performed, not this obligation field. The industry page holds the award list under the $32.6 billion headline.

Charter freight is the flying, not the factory and not the hangar. The $32,640,700,858.73 total is awards tagged 481212. The 3,502 records are contracting actions against charter vehicles, including surge orders. A Civil Reserve-style activation that appears as a contract still follows the NAICS on the award file. This packet does not count sorties or tons.

Fuel is often the hidden neighbor. Refinery-coded fuel is 324110 and is not in this total. Maintenance tagged 488190 is not in this total. Airframes tagged 336411 are not in this total. Cite USAspending obligations on 3,502 awards coded 481212, nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation. Keep outlays out. Keep passenger charter, if tagged elsewhere, out.

Questions

How much is obligated on NAICS 481212 chartered freight air?

USAspending.gov contract awards coded NAICS 481212 show $32,640,700,858.73 in obligations across 3,502 awards. That total is obligations, not outlays, for nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation. USAspending.gov records the amount as contract obligations, not outlays, on awards tagged NAICS 481212.

Is this the same as aircraft manufacturing?

No. Aircraft manufacturing is NAICS 336411. 481212 is charter freight flying. The $32,640,700,858.73 figure does not include airframe production tagged 336411. The packet total is $32,640,700,858.73 across 3,502 awards; assistance awards often have no NAICS and stay outside the industry rollup.

Does 481212 include aircraft maintenance?

Other support activities for air transportation are NAICS 488190. This table is the flying of chartered freight. Maintenance tagged 488190 is outside the $32,640,700,858.73 total. Treat the 3,502 figure as an award-record count, including orders and modifications, not as a physical inventory of products or sites.

Do 3,502 awards mean 3,502 flights?

No. The 3,502 figure counts contract award records, including task orders and modifications. It is not a sortie count. This guide does not add a fiscal-year split. Quote the live industry page if you need the current award list under NONSCHEDULED CHARTERED FREIGHT AIR TRANSPORTATION.