Transportation agents coordinate the movement of freight, mail, baggage, and passengers at airports.
One of the largest cargo airplanes in the world is the C-5 Galaxy, built by Lockheed Martin. It's as long as a football field and as tall as a six-story building. It is so large that it can hold an eight-lane bowling alley! It may be surprising to hear that even though the massive C-5 can taxi over bumpy roads and carry 270,000 pounds of cargo, it flies as smoothly as a regular passenger plane.
The people who get to see such massive planes like the C-5, up close on a daily basis, are transportation agents.
Transportation agents arrange shipping for cargo on airplanes. They accept freight from shippers and complete the paper work for shipment. They receive cargo and arrange for the pickup and delivery of freight. They use computers and scanners to track and record shipments.
Transportation agents record crew names, passengers, flight numbers, and the amount of baggage and freight on a flight. They position ramps for boarding passengers and loading freight on the airplane. They check passenger boarding tickets. They also check imports and exports for tax purposes. They load and unload freight and baggage, or supervise the loading. After the loading of the airplane is complete, transportation agents verify the passenger and cargo load with the aircraft crew. Then they send a copy of the flight's contents to the destination airport.