An air waybill number has 11 digits, for example 555-12345675. The first three digits show the airline: 555 is Aeroflot. The status of your cargo is kept by the cargo terminal of the airport the cargo goes through. At Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, this is Moscow Cargo. At Pulkovo airport in Saint Petersburg, it is Pulkovo Cargo. On both sites you enter the number in a tracking box, and no sign-up is needed.
CargoBooking is an air freight forwarder in Moscow, working since 2019, and an Aeroflot cargo agent at Sheremetyevo since 2019. We issue Aeroflot air waybills ourselves and give you the number, so you can track the cargo on your own. More About CargoBooking. Write to us in English or Russian.
How is an air waybill number built?
The air waybill (AWB) is the main document for an air shipment. It is the contract of carriage between the shipper and the airline. Its number looks like this: three digits, a hyphen, eight digits.
- The first three digits are the prefix, the airline's numeric code. It tells you whose waybill it is: 555 is Aeroflot, 421 is S7.
- The next seven digits are the serial number of the waybill.
- The last digit is a check digit. It catches typos.
Divide the seven-digit serial number by 7. The remainder is the last digit. This rule is described in the IATA help page (IATA is the International Air Transport Association). Example: in 555-12345675 the serial number is 1234567. Divided by 7, it gives 176366 with a remainder of 5. The last digit is also 5, so the number is written correctly. If the remainder does not match, check for a missing digit or a letter O instead of a zero.
You get the number from whoever booked the shipment: the forwarder or the airline. If a forwarder consolidated your cargo with other shipments, you may also have the forwarder's own number, the house air waybill (HAWB). The airline's waybill for the whole consolidated shipment is the master air waybill (MAWB). Terminals can search by HAWB too, usually on a separate tab. Airline sites search only by the MAWB.
Which airline does the prefix belong to?
The table lists the airlines most often asked about. Prefixes come from the Parcelsapp prefix list.
| Prefix | Airline | Where to check the status |
|---|---|---|
| 555 | Aeroflot | the airport terminal; at Sheremetyevo, Moscow Cargo |
| 421 | S7 (Siberia Airlines) | cargo.s7.ru, "Track cargo" section |
| 262 | Ural Airlines | cargo.uralairlines.ru, "Cargo status" page |
| 235 | Turkish Cargo (Turkish Airlines) | turkishcargo.com, Cargo Tracking page |
| 176 | Emirates SkyCargo | skycargo.com, Track Shipments button |
| 157 | Qatar Airways Cargo | qrcargo.com, Track your Shipment block |
| 784 | China Southern Cargo | cargo.csair.com |
| 999 | Air China Cargo | airchinacargo.com |
| 607 | Etihad Cargo | etihadcargo.com |
| 141 | flydubai Cargo | cargo.flydubai.com |
| 112 | China Cargo Airlines | ckair.com |
| 876 | Sichuan Airlines Cargo | see the Parcelsapp list |
| 880 | Hainan Airlines Cargo | see the Parcelsapp list |
| 250 | Uzbekistan Airways Cargo | uzairways.com |
| 465 | Air Astana Cargo | airastana.com |
How to track cargo at Moscow Cargo (Sheremetyevo)
Moscow Cargo, the cargo terminal at Sheremetyevo airport, handles cargo on Aeroflot, Rossiya and Pobeda flights. This is stated in its tariff document. We did not find customer tracking on the Aeroflot and Rossiya websites, so for these airlines you check the terminal. Tracking is free and needs no sign-up.
- Open the Moscow Cargo home page. The tracking box is at the top.
- Choose a tab. AWB is the airline's waybill, the most common search. HAWB is the forwarder's house waybill. There is also a CMR tab for a road consignment note.
- Enter the number in two parts: the three-digit airline prefix (555 for Aeroflot) and the eight digits. For 555-12345675, that is 555 and 12345675.
- Run the check.
The result shows the waybill details (pieces, actual and chargeable weight, volume, airports, flight), house waybills for consolidated cargo, customs information for international cargo, and the handling history with date, time, flight, pieces and weight at each step.
If you see a message that there is no information on the waybill or that it was created more than 90 days ago, the number is not in the system or the waybill is older than three months.
Outbound statuses at Moscow Cargo
These are the steps for cargo you drop off at Sheremetyevo for a flight to another city. The status names below are our translations of the names in the Moscow Cargo tracking box.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Cargo being accepted | the cargo is being received at the warehouse gate |
| Cargo accepted | the cargo is in the warehouse, weighed and counted |
| Documents accepted | the documents are handed in at the customer hall |
| Shipment formed | the cargo is assigned to a flight |
| Cargo sent to aircraft | the cargo is on its way to the aircraft for loading |
| Flight departed | the aircraft with the cargo has left |
| Waybill removed from flight load plan | the cargo did not go on this flight and will be put on another one |
| Returned from aircraft | the cargo was brought back from the aircraft to the warehouse |
| Cargo blocked by customs | customs has stopped the cargo for inspection |
If the cargo was removed from the load plan or returned from the aircraft, call whoever booked the shipment. The usual reasons are lack of space or a document mismatch, and the cargo goes on the next flight.
Inbound statuses at Moscow Cargo
For cargo flying into Moscow, the order is different.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Cargo announced for arrival on flight | the airline told the terminal the cargo is on this flight |
| Flight arrived | the aircraft has landed |
| Cargo accepted | the cargo is unloaded and accepted into the warehouse |
| Cargo arrived without documents | the cargo is here, but its documents are not |
| Documents arrived without cargo | the documents are here, but the cargo did not arrive |
| Cargo deconsolidated | the consolidated shipment is split by house waybills |
| Cargo ready for release | the cargo can be picked up |
| Consignee notified | the consignee has been told the cargo arrived |
| Cargo release notice | customs has allowed release (international cargo) |
| Documents issued | the consignee collected the documents at the customer hall |
| Gate pass created | a pass is issued to take the cargo out through the gate |
| Cargo fully released | all cargo on the waybill has been released |
Flight landing times are in the Sheremetyevo flight schedule on the terminal's site, with an arrivals filter.
Sometimes the history says that another organization is handling the cargo or that it was passed to a third party. Then ask that organization for further status.
To pick up cargo you need the waybill number, the INN (Russian taxpayer ID) of the party paying the terminal fees, the vehicle number, an identity document, and a power of attorney if a representative collects the cargo.
Other Russian airports and airlines
Pulkovo Cargo (Saint Petersburg). Use the waybill check on the shipment status page. Enter the number in two parts: three digits of the prefix and eight digits.
S7 Cargo. S7 is the brand of Siberia Airlines, and its cargo business is S7 Cargo. According to the S7 Cargo help page, you can track either by air waybill number (prefix 421 plus eight digits, printed in the top right and bottom right corners of your copy) or by S7 Cargo order number. Enter it in the "Track cargo" section on cargo.s7.ru.
Ural Airlines. The cargo service has its own site. On the cargo status page, enter the air waybill number and run the check. Prefix 262.
Utair. On cargo.utair.ru, switch to the cargo status tab and enter the waybill number.
Destination airport. Once the cargo has arrived, the terminal at that airport keeps its status. Many large airports have their own tracking. For example, Almaty airport in Kazakhstan has a cargo tracking section. If there is no tracking page, call the destination airport warehouse and give the waybill number.
Airline site or terminal? The airline knows the booking and the flights. The terminal knows what is in its warehouse. If the airline site shows no progress but the terminal already shows acceptance or departure, trust the terminal: it records what has already happened.
How to track foreign airlines
Turkish Cargo. Open the Cargo Tracking page. The prefix 235 is already filled in. Enter the eight digits. You can check up to 10 waybills at once.
Emirates SkyCargo. On skycargo.com, click Track Shipments. It opens e-SkyCargo with a Search & Track block. In the Doc. No. field, enter all 11 digits with no hyphen, starting with 176. No sign-up is needed for tracking.
Qatar Airways Cargo. Use the Track your Shipment block on the qrcargo.com home page.
China Southern Cargo. The home page of cargo.csair.com has a field for the waybill number: 11 digits with no break, starting with 784. The site opens in Chinese; the English switch is at the top.
Air China Cargo. On airchinacargo.com, use the tracking block and its air waybill tab. The prefix 999 is already filled in. You can enter up to five numbers in one field, separated by commas. The EN button switches to English.
Multi-airline trackers. Sites such as Parcelsapp and Track-trace accept a number from any airline and detect the carrier by prefix. Their data comes from airlines and sometimes lags. If a tracker shows nothing, check the airline or terminal site.
After arrival in Russia. The airline site shows the cargo's path by flights. After arrival, the airport warehouse takes over. International cargo first goes to a temporary storage warehouse under customs control and is released after customs clearance. So the airline tracker often stops at arrival. At Sheremetyevo, check Moscow Cargo, including by the forwarder's house waybill number. How this works for imports is explained in our guide on air freight from China to Russia door to door.
What do the status codes mean?
Trackers often show short codes. These are standard IATA codes. Here are the main ones in the order of the cargo's journey (meanings from the CargoAI reference):
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| BKD | cargo booked on a flight |
| RCS | cargo received from the shipper at the warehouse |
| MAN | cargo listed on the flight manifest |
| DEP | the flight with the cargo departed |
| ARR | the flight arrived at the destination airport |
| RCF | cargo unloaded and received at the destination warehouse |
| NFD | consignee notified, cargo can be picked up soon |
| DLV | cargo delivered to the consignee |
| DIS | discrepancy: weight, number of pieces or documents do not match |
If you see DIS, call your forwarder right away. It is better to sort out a discrepancy before departure than at the destination warehouse.
Why is the number not found?
- Typo. Check the check digit as described above.
- The cargo has not been dropped off yet. The number is issued at booking, but the terminal learns about the cargo only when it arrives at the warehouse.
- Wrong airport or wrong site. Moscow Cargo sees only Sheremetyevo. If the cargo went through Vnukovo or Domodedovo, check their terminals. An airline site finds only its own prefix.
- Forwarder's number. A HAWB is not on the airline site. Search the airline site by the MAWB.
- Wrong format. Some sites prefill the prefix and want only eight digits. Emirates and China Southern want all 11 digits together.
- Old waybill. After some time, the terminal stops showing the number.
If the number is correct, the cargo was dropped off more than a day ago, and the terminal shows nothing, ask whoever booked the shipment.
If you ship with us
We issue the Aeroflot air waybill as a cargo agent and give you its number right away. You can check it yourself at Moscow Cargo. If a status is unclear, send the waybill number to our manager in Telegram @Cargo_Booking. How to drop off cargo at the terminal is explained in our guide on Moscow Cargo drop-off at Sheremetyevo.
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