Departed / Flown

The cargo has been built up onto pallets or into Unit Load Devices (ULDs), loaded onto the aircraft, and the flight has departed the origin airport. This confirms the goods are currently transit airborne.

What Does DEP Mean in Air Cargo?

The status code DEP (representing Departed / Flown) is a standard milestone defined by the IATA Cargo Interchange Message Procedures (Cargo-IMP). It serves as a key check-in event scanned by airline personnel or cargo terminal operators. Tracking this event provides shippers and logistics providers with end-to-end visibility, ensuring that transit connections, cargo transfer, and customs clearance proceed in an orderly manner.

What to Do Next? (Consignee Advice)

Carrier-Specific Naming Quirks

Although the IATA Cargo-IMP standard prescribes the status code DEP, different global airlines and cargo handlers often display this milestone under customized labels. Here is how major carriers translate it:

Lufthansa Cargo displays this as 'Flown', Cathay Cargo refers to it as 'Departed on Flight', and UPS Cargo shows 'In Transit'.

Typical Next Status Milestone

In the standard lifecycle of an air freight shipment, once the cargo passes through the Departed / Flown (DEP) milestone, it is expected to transition into the following phase:

➡️ ARR (Arrived) or RCF (Received at Cargo Facility)