Air freight from Saudi Arabia to Turkey costs from SAR 14 a kilo at Gulf International Shipping, with a 5 kg parcel from SAR 110, and is delivered in Istanbul 3–5 working days after pickup, or Ankara, İzmir, Antalya, Bursa and Trabzon within 4–6 working days. Shipments fly on nonstop services from Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Madinah to Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gökçen, with about four hours in the air, then clear Turkish customs and go out with our courier to the door. This option suits documents, clothing, gifts, spare parts and small devices; furniture and cars belong in a sea container.
Anyone looking at air freight to Turkey usually wants three answers: what does a kilo cost, when will the parcel arrive, and what must stay out of it? This page answers all three with concrete figures. It also explains why your parcel is sometimes charged at more than it weighs on the scale, why your phone should never go in the box, how Turkish customs treats personal and commercial parcels, and which Saudi airport your shipment leaves from depending on where you live.
At a glance
- Air price per kilo: from SAR 14; a 5 kg parcel from SAR 110; documents from SAR 46
- Door to door: Istanbul in 3–5 working days; other Turkish cities in 4–6
- Flight time: about 3h45 from Jeddah, 4–4.5 hours from Riyadh and Dammam
- Turkish airports: Istanbul Airport on the European side, Sabiha Gökçen on the Asian side
- How it is charged: the larger of scale weight and volumetric weight is charged; one cubic metre counts as about 167 kg
- Key restriction: mobile phones cannot enter Turkey by courier or post
- Not flown: furniture and cars, which go by sea from Jeddah Islamic Port
Route: your Saudi city’s airport → Istanbul (IST or SAW) → clearance → your address in Turkey · Time: 3–6 working days · Call: 0568829975
Which Saudi airport will your shipment fly from?
Air cargo to Turkey travels in the holds of the passenger aircraft that run the direct routes, so its timing follows the airline schedule between the two cities. The airport with the most Istanbul flights is King Abdulaziz in Jeddah, followed by Riyadh, then Dammam and Madinah. This table sums up the nonstop routes currently known:
If you are in Makkah, your shipment flies from Jeddah, about 80 km away; from Taif it goes either on the nonstop flight when one is running or from Jeddah, about 170 km away. From Tabuk we move it to an airport with a direct route, so connection time is added according to the schedule. Shipments from Qassim and Al Kharj go through Riyadh, and from Al Ahsa, Jubail and Khobar through Dammam.
How long does air freight from Saudi Arabia to Turkey take door to door?
An air shipment needs 3–5 working days for Istanbul and 4–6 for the rest of Turkey. The flight itself is under four and a half hours, but before and after it the shipment passes through stages the customer never sees, and each takes its own time:
What stretches the timeline? Usually one of three things: a parcel with missing paperwork that stops at clearance, a full hold in the travel season that pushes it to the next flight, or a public holiday in either country. That is why we quote in working days, not calendar days.
Approximate air freight prices from Saudi Arabia to Turkey
Gulf International Shipping’s air freight prices from Saudi Arabia to Turkey begin with SAR 18 for a small parcel of 1 kg or less, SAR 110 for a 5 kg parcel, and SAR 14 per kilo once shipments get bigger. We have priced them below what shipping companies in the Kingdom publish for the same service, and they include collection, packing, the flight and delivery in Turkey. Any duty or tax levied by Turkish customs is extra.
Note: expect 3–5 working days to an Istanbul address and 4–6 to other cities; the charge uses scale or volumetric weight, whichever is larger. Customs clearance and insurance are priced per shipment.
To price your own shipment, message us the rough weight, the carton dimensions, where you are in the Kingdom and where it is going in Turkey; you get back a cost and the date of the next suitable flight. To compare air with sea and see every city table, visit shipping prices from Saudi Arabia to Turkey.
Actual or volumetric weight: how is your parcel charged?
An aircraft hold runs out of room before it runs out of lift, so a bulky but feather-light box can occupy the slot a heavy, better-paying parcel would have filled. To account for that, airlines measure every shipment and derive a “volumetric weight”: multiply the three carton dimensions in centimetres and divide the result by 6,000. That figure is compared with the scale reading, and you are billed on the larger of the two.
In practice, heavy compact items such as books, vacuum-packed clothing and spare parts are the best fit for air, while cushions, blankets and big plastic toys become expensive in the air and are cheaper in shared sea freight. Our advice: choose cartons that fit their contents, and do not leave large empty spaces inside.
What should you fly to Turkey, and what should go by sea?
Documents and papers
Certificates, contracts, university papers and powers of attorney, in Istanbul within a few days.
Clothing and personal effects
A suitcase or carton for a student or employee who arrived in Turkey before their furniture.
Gifts and packed dates for personal use
In small non-commercial quantities, bearing in mind Turkish customs limits on food.
Spare parts and trade samples
For a workshop or factory waiting on a part that cannot wait weeks at sea.
Small devices
Laptops, cameras and small home appliances, with removable batteries taken out.
Goes by sea
Furniture, large appliances, cars and commercial volumes, in a container from Jeddah Islamic Port.
The rule we give our customers: if the shipment is under 50 kg and you need it within a week, fly it. If it is over a cubic metre or it is furniture, sea is far cheaper even though it takes longer. A cubic metre that starts at SAR 410 by sea in a shared container is charged at about 167 kg by air, which is more than SAR 2,300.
Phones, batteries and perfume: what stays out of an air parcel
Mobile phones are not allowed in parcels
Turkish customs will not admit any mobile handset arriving in a postal or courier shipment, new or used, even if you offer to pay the duty. The phone travels in your pocket or hand luggage; a handset from abroad works on Turkish networks for a limited period, after which its IMEI has to be registered for a fee.
- Lithium batteries: removable batteries are taken out of devices before air shipment, and power banks are not sent loose in a parcel.
- Perfume and cosmetics: alcohol-based perfume and aerosols are flammable and restricted by airlines; cosmetics are not accepted by air within household goods, and commercial quantities ship by sea with their paperwork.
- Food: animal products are prohibited, and commercial quantities of dates and food need the Turkish importer’s permits.
- Medicines: only with a doctor’s prescription and in amounts for your own use.
- General prohibitions: weapons, narcotics, explosives and fireworks, currency, drones, gas cylinders, paint and flammable materials.
- Jewellery, gold and cash: travel with the passenger, not in the shipment.
Turkish customs on air shipments
Turkish customs treats an air shipment according to what it is, not how it travelled. A duty-paid personal parcel sent by post or express is limited to a gross weight of 30 kg and has to be non-commercial. E-commerce orders no longer go through simplified procedures; they fall under the normal import regime however small their value. A trade shipment is charged duty at a rate that depends on the product, with 20% VAT added on top.
A Turkish citizen returning for good, or a foreign resident moving home to Turkey, can bring used personal effects in by air under the same exemption that covers furniture, using the air waybill instead of a sea bill of lading, if the conditions are met: 24 months outside Turkey and the relocation certificate for a returning citizen, or the residence permit, tax number and annual lease for a resident. We check with Turkish customs that these conditions fit your case before anything is sent; the full explanation is in Turkey used household goods customs.
Do not declare a false value
Customs calculates duty on the declared value and checks it against market prices. A deliberately low value can stop the parcel for review and delay it by days, or lead to a fine.
Documents required for air freight to Turkey
We file the Saudi export declaration for commercial shipments electronically and issue the air waybill in the consignee’s name exactly as it appears in their passport. A mismatch between the name on the waybill and the name in the passport is one of the most common reasons for delays at the Turkish airport.
Preparing and packing an air shipment
An air parcel is stacked on top of other parcels in the aircraft container and handled several times between warehouses, so it needs a double-wall carton, not a used grocery box. We wrap devices in bubble wrap and fill the gaps so nothing moves inside, tape every edge, and write the consignee’s name and phone number on two sides of the carton. Permitted liquids are sealed tight and bagged before they go in the box.
Photograph your parcel before sealing it
One photo of the contents and another of the sealed carton on the scale help you check everything on delivery, and support any insurance claim if damage occurs.
Steps for air freight from Saudi Arabia to Turkey
- 1Send the weight and size
Message us on WhatsApp 0568829975 with the approximate weight, carton size, type of contents and both cities. - 2Get the cost and the flight
Once the chargeable weight is calculated, you receive the price and the departure we recommend. - 3We collect from your door
Our courier comes to your home or office, weighs the parcel and packs it if needed. - 4Formalities at the Saudi airport
We lodge the shipment at the cargo terminal, where it passes security screening and the export declaration. - 5Flight and tracking
The aircraft takes off for Istanbul, and we send you the air waybill number to follow it. - 6Clearance and delivery
The shipment clears in Turkey, and our courier delivers it to the address and takes the consignee’s signature.
Turkish cities we deliver air freight to
We deliver air shipments to every district on both sides of Istanbul, from Başakşehir, Esenyurt and Fatih on the European side to Üsküdar, Kadıköy, Ataşehir and Pendik on the Asian side. We also deliver to Bursa, Yalova and Sapanca, popular with Gulf visitors in summer; to Ankara, the capital; to İzmir on the Aegean; to Antalya and Alanya on the south coast; and to Trabzon, about an hour’s flight from Istanbul.
Cities far from Istanbul are reached in one of two ways: a domestic flight to the local airport and then delivery, or a truck from Istanbul. We pick the faster option for your shipment based on its weight. Small parcels reach Trabzon and Antalya sooner by domestic flight, while heavier loads for Bursa and Yalova arrive by road within hours.
Air or sea to Turkey? When the price difference is worth it
Many families combine the two: a sea container with furniture and appliances that arrives in three or four weeks, and a small air parcel with clothes, papers and school things that arrives in the first week. That way life in Turkey can start without waiting. Details on containers and Turkish ports are in our sea freight guide from Saudi Arabia to Turkey.
Can a car be flown to Turkey?
The short answer is no. Aircraft are not how we move cars to Turkey; our route for them is a closed container sailing out of Jeddah, from SAR 5,060. More important than the mode is whether Turkish customs will take the car at all. A Turk coming home after two years abroad can import a car three years old or newer if it stayed in their name for six months, and still pays the special consumption tax and VAT on it; a foreign resident is limited to temporary import. Details are in car shipping from Saudi Arabia to Turkey.
How can you lower the cost of air freight to Turkey?
- Match the carton to the contents: empty space inside the box raises the volumetric weight for nothing.
- Combine small parcels into one shipment: the per-kilo rate for a larger load works out lower than separate small-parcel prices.
- Put heavy items that can wait on a ship: books, kitchenware and large appliances cost far less in a shared container.
- Skip what costs about the same in Turkey: some cheap, heavy items are not worth the air rate.
- Have the paperwork complete: a parcel held at customs may run up airport storage charges.
Common mistakes with air freight to Turkey
- Packing a phone or a smartwatch with a SIM inside the parcel.
- Sending power banks or alcohol-based perfume without asking about airline restrictions.
- Using a huge carton for a few items, so it is charged at double its weight.
- Shipping commercial orders as personal gifts.
- Giving an incomplete Turkish address with no building or flat number and no local phone number.
- Flying furniture in the hope of speed and paying several times what the sea would cost.
Air freight from Turkey to Saudi Arabia
We also handle air shipments from Istanbul to Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Madinah: clothing, Turkish products, online purchases, spare parts and trade samples. In the Kingdom they go through Saudi customs according to their type. Pricing in this direction differs, so message us the weight and both cities for a quote.
Why Gulf International Shipping for air freight to Turkey?
From SAR 14 per kilo
And a 5 kg parcel from SAR 110, with pickup and delivery in the price.
From every Saudi city
We collect at your door and fly from the nearest airport with a direct Istanbul route.
Weight worked out openly
We tell you the actual and volumetric weight before you pay.
Advice before you send
We check the contents and tell you what airlines or Turkish customs will not accept.
Tracking by waybill
The air waybill number reaches you as soon as the aircraft takes off.
One number
Call or WhatsApp 0568829975.
Find out what your air parcel to Turkey costs
Tell us the weight, the box dimensions, your Saudi city and the destination in Turkey, and a price plus the next departure comes straight back to you.
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