About Us

Mission

At Kelley Air, our goal is to provide outstanding service to our customers, and we pride ourselves on integrity and shipments well done. From the beginning, our philosophy has been to outwork the competition, tackling the biggest logistics challenges and succeeding. Consistency and transparency with our customers are core company values.

Experience and Expertise

With over four decades of experience in the industry, we stand by our promise to our customers that we are proactive with time-sensitive, high-valued deliveries that are performed as fast as humanly possible when needed. We take great pride in our work.

Kelley has often taken on challenging shipments that other major competitors turn down. We do not let distance, time of day, and, in many cases, weather or other considerations stand in our way. These successes through adversity have garnered us many loyal customers, many since the early 1980s. We complete those shipments with hard work, our custom software integrated with other software tools, organized procedures, and creative problem-solving.

Our operations span the continental United States, Mexico, and Canada, with a fleet ready to meet your expedited shipping needs at any hour of the weekday, weekend, or holiday. It only takes us 30 to 150 minutes from the initial call to have a truck ready to pick up at your desired dock anywhere in the country.

Vetted Carriers

Kelley only uses carriers also vetted by the following on our custom bidboard software: We use

FreightValidate
Carrier Assure
RMIS Carrier Onboarding

Highway
FrightWaves
Expedite All

Interstate for Vetting
Carrier Cargo
Carrier411 Reviews

History

Since 1988 Kelley Air has grown from a one-pilot charter operation to a freight expediter with preferred carrier status for Fortune 100 companies. We started out as an asset-based, certified FAR Part 135, on-demand, air-charter freight carrier. Later, after customer requests, Kelley became an indirect air carrier freight broker and an asset-based truck carrier with the capacity to cover all expedites. In current terminology, we are a 3PL freight broker for expedited trucks.

After a successful start, our customers began asking us for multiple and larger planes. We then began using other competitive air carriers, along with an “Air Charter Guide” as a backup and becoming an air-freight charter broker or indirect carrier. To continue offering the same high level of service our customers had come to expect, Kelley began building Unix-based computerized Transportation Management Systems, blast faxing carriers, and eventually created air-charter freight and expedited truck bidboards to integrate with our dispatch software.

Kelley’s vision to create our bidboard came from the realization after small software contractors were able to build similar applications for police dispatch, air-charter freight booking, and courier industries.

In 2009, with our experience in acquiring trucks, Kelley decided to focus on becoming an expedite truck freight broker with an advantage and developed the first expedited truck bidboard. We then introduced it to the expedited trucking industry. Our customers wanted shipments done right and expeditiously, and we provided it.

Unlike other brokers, Kelley has personal experience working with truck and air carriers. We understand the process from a carrier’s perspective which helps considerably in acquiring other carriers and managing transportation. We’re better brokers because we’ve done this work ourselves.

1988

Scott Kelley founded Kelley Air with just himself and a single charter plane at (GRR).

1994

Opened a second hangar MKG to avoid politics at Grand Rapids Airport (GRR).

1999

Blast-faxed air charter owners for cargo aircraft using Goldmine CRM.

Kelley’s design team perfected an innovative “Blast Fax” system, allowing hundreds of air carriers to instantly receive bid requests for air charter loads.

Expanded air-charter services to include much of Canada, from British Columbia to Montreal to Eastern and Western Mexico and the continental US in between.

2003

Launched Air Charter BidBoard, a centralized website enabling charter operators to receive freight information and place bids promptly. This innovative new design significantly shortened the length of time from customer request to plane waiting on the ground to pick up freight.

2006

Revamped community Air Charter BidBoard and added sending emails, in addition to the BidBoard as another way for carriers to see what is available and be able to bid in real time.

2009

Relocated offices to the current location in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in order to expand the Kelley dispatch and customer service teams.

Introduced the Ground Expedite Truck BidBoard to the trucking industry, adding over 10,000 carriers to it for testing and carriers participation in quote options. We also purchased a multi-threaded email server. This innovation worked, even though McAfee, Semantic, and AOL said that it wouldn’t. To this day, Kelley’s email server keeps Kelley up on best email deliverability practices meaning more carrier options for you.

Capacity

Kelley Ground-Air Expedite has a network of over 45,000 trucks and planes available in all corners of the US, with a lighter network in Canada and Mexico. This allows us to have a truck at your desired pickup dock or ramp usually within 90 minutes of your request, anywhere in North America.

We currently dedicate almost all our resources to trucking expedites, as well as air-charter freight services. Our concentrated, effective systems help us position aircraft in less time than our strongest competitors while still ensuring precise deliveries. We utilize a vast network of 22,000 expediting companies throughout the country that are notified immediately through our BidBoard quoting system.

The information used in our Smart Quote BidBoard is presented in a format that is organized with our vetted carriers and is much faster and more useful than loadboards. In about 20 minutes a customer will receive options that include: equipment types available and estimated time of arrival for both pick up (which is typically in 30 to 120 minutes from the time you initially let Kelley know you need the shipment). The ETA of the delivery time is also given at the same time as the pickup time.

What does having more carriers available in the shortest time mean to you, the customer? Fewer dead-head miles to pick up, fewer mechanical problems and accidents, fewer traffic delays, less pollution, and lower costs. Again, more expeditious carriers available on our bidboard allows the customer more options, more time to make backup corrections if needed, and more communication, including questions answered. Roadside assistance and rapid-truck backup capacity also sets us apart from our competition.

During the running shipment process, Kelley notifies you about critical points of the shipments and any information from the carrier, including potential delays, pictures of the freight, and BOL’s. Kelley proactively mitigates service issues and puts safeguards in place for time-sensitive shipments. We also quickly notify you about loading delays, verify that there aren’t material parts quantities, part number discrepancies, significant traffic delays, customs border problems, or vehicle and driver issues.

We believe greater transparency is worth any small cost increase and pays off for everyone in the long run. Our 100% delivery success requires honesty, thought, time, and effort. We also answer questions the old-fashioned way on the phone, without automated prompts. Our courteous personnel are always available to answer your questions.

Kelley Air has the highest percentage of on-time delivery in the industry. We excel at finding a solution to your critical shipment when other carriers say it can’t be done. Our customers include tier-1 and tier-2 automotive manufacturers, aircraft manufacturing, and medical equipment manufacturers.

Kelley’s Custom Smart Quote Booking systems are the fastest in the industry.

Kelley’s Smart Quote BidBoard system electronically sends details of your shipment via seven high-speed modules to more air charter and expedite trucking companies than any other load board via 17,000 emails per minute. For the customer this facilitates fewer miles and less time to pickup, less congestion, fewer accidents and breakdowns, energy savings, less pollution, and lower costs. If, for some reason, a second truck is needed, you will get one right away.

When time is of the essence, having an abundance of organized truck capacity sets us apart from the competition. We offer what may sound like an unbelievable success rate, but having this kind of capacity with our BidBoard has helped us ensure our 100% delivery success on a final completion of every shipment that we have accepted for over three decades.

Kelley Ground-Air Expedite has earned the trust and respect of customers who have come to depend on us for reliable expedite services.

Air Charter

Kelley provides air cargo charter services to industries and clients with deadlines to meet. Kelley facilitates freight aircraft charter services for heavy or oversized critical assembly cargo, heavy die molds, parts, manifolds, and motors.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I ship to Canada and Mexico?

Yes, Kelley offers ground and air freight services to and from Canada and Mexico. Customs assistance is taken care of by Kelley. We typically need the shipper’s Customs outboard and inboard broker names. This is the Customs broker who only handles Customs paperwork for Customs clearance and has a prior power-of-attorney relationship usually with the shipper. The shipper’s Bill of Lading and declared value paperwork must match in descriptions. Kelley handles all the other details. How does air charter freight work?

While each customer has unique needs for each shipment, here is a basic shipping configuration:
1. A local truck is dispatched to your dock to pick up your freight and carry it to one of 5,000 US airports. That truck can be immediately provided by Kelley.
2. There is less regulation as no TSA is required for any air charter freight aircraft.
3. The freight is loaded onto the plane at the airport, organized by Kelley along with ramp, landing, and handling.
4. The freight is taken by air to a local airport near your required destination or customer.
5. The same as above is provided as above at a local airport, with a local truck close to the final delivery location. That second local truck is usually provided by Kelley too. The truck is unloaded at the final destination. All applicable federal excise taxes are paid as appropriate by Kelley before the customer receives the bill. All estimates are provided to the customer upon booking.

Are there any other considerations with Air Charter Freight?
Yes, when moving anything less than two full skids via air charter, it is important to ask the hard question of whether it’s necessary to ship what is essentially basically one or two 4-foot cubes, or can the containers be separated into smaller containers, allowing the boxes or totes to be hand-loaded in a more compact manner through a smaller cargo or passenger door of the airplane.

The latter breaking down the skid option more than doubles the number of planes that can be used as it allows for better use of aircraft with smaller cargo, or passenger doors to be used, more efficient use of cargo space, smaller airports to be used that are closer PU and Delivery without congestion and forklifts. These smaller places typically cost dramatically less to operate and are exempt from federal excise taxes as well.

How do I track my shipment?

Kelley uses GPS satellite tracking and links of Aviation Radar to monitor freight locations and provide accurate ETAs. Milestones such as pickup and delivery are communicated via email link or phone. Verbal and email updates are given to you, such as notification that the truck is at the pickup dock. Arrival at destination notification and a picture of the proof of delivery is immediately sent to you.

Are there special requirements?
Just container dimensions and weight, ready time, deadline time, shipping and receiving hours, and any other special requests that you may require.

NEED HELP WITH THAT CRITICAL SHIPMENT?

Call us at 1-800-860-1054, e-mail at info@kelleyair.com, or text us at (616) 528-8253. It could save you time, money, and even a customer.

About Us​