UK SIC 2007 · 51210
Freight air transport (SIC code 51210)
Freight air transport is UK SIC code 51210. It sits in division 51 (Air transport) of the SIC 2007 list. On the August 2026 Companies House register, 2,462 active UK companies list 51210 among their SIC codes. 862 of them list it first. That makes it the most used code in its division.
Division 51: Air transport
Air transport is a small division with a clear edge to it. It is for companies that carry passengers or freight by air. The code seen most on the UK register is 51210, freight air transport. It covers cargo airlines, charter operators and firms flying goods under their own air operator certificate. Passenger carriage, scheduled or charter, has separate codes in the division. The test is simple: do you operate the aircraft? Brokers, handlers and travel firms that arrange flights without flying them sit elsewhere. That keeps this division genuinely airline-shaped.
Related SIC codes
Who prospects SIC 51210 companies
Selling here is niche and high value. Aviation insurers and their brokers want these relationships. So do aircraft finance and leasing specialists, MRO providers, fuel suppliers and ground handling companies. The pool is small enough to cover completely. Recruiters placing pilots, engineers and operations staff use the same codes. A new company in division 51 usually comes before regulatory approvals and buying an aircraft. That phase is expensive and full of advice. Early contact matters far more than volume in this market.
Lead generation for commercial & B2B services →How to read SIC 51210
SIC 51210 is a five-digit code, and the digits are not arbitrary. The first two, 51, are the division, air transport. Add the third and you have group 512; the fourth narrows it to a class, and the fifth to the subclass, which is the level Companies House actually asks a company to pick. The whole division sits under section H, transportation and storage, the broadest tier there is. Reading a code left to right therefore goes from a whole sector down to one activity.
More on how SIC 51210 is built
A company chooses its own codes when it incorporates and can change them on any confirmation statement. It may list up to four, and Companies House does not check whether they are right. That is why 51210 is worth reading as a claim the company made about itself rather than as a verified fact, and why the first-position and any-position counts above differ.
Measured on the August 2026 register, the busiest registered-office post towns for 51210 are London (664), Manchester (58), Slough (47), Birmingham (46) and Hayes (37). Those are registered-office locations, which is where the paperwork sits rather than necessarily where the work happens, so treat them as where to start looking rather than as a service area.
Using SIC 51210 as a filter
2,462 companies is 0.05 per cent of the 5,190,464 active companies on the UK register, and ranks 51210 most used of the 3 codes we track in division 51. That is the pool before any filter. Whether it is a big market for you depends on what you sell, but it is the number every other filter on this page cuts down from.
More on filtering by SIC 51210
Only 862 of the 2,462 companies carrying 51210 put it first. The other 1,600, 65 per cent, list it behind another code, which usually means the business does more than one thing and files 51210 as a sideline. A search that matches the first code only will miss most of this population, so match on any of the four SIC positions and use a second filter to tighten it.
The population is concentrated: the five busiest post towns hold 35 per cent of it, and London alone accounts for 27 per cent. If you sell nationally, those five towns are most of the market. If you sell locally and you are not in one of them, expect a much smaller pool and widen the radius early.
In practice the code on its own is rarely the whole filter. Pair 51210 with an incorporation date to catch companies in their first months, when they are still choosing suppliers, or with a filing deadline to reach them while the year end is on their mind. A worked example for this code: 51210, registered office in London, incorporated in the last ninety days, which turns a 2,462 company pool into a list you can write to in an afternoon. Add the poor-website filter if what you sell is a website, or a recent change of officer if you sell to whoever just took the job. Every company you pull carries the Companies House record, the director's name, a verified website and a verified email, and the ones we cannot complete are not charged.
Where SIC 51210 clusters in the UK
ACTIVE COMPANIES BY REGISTERED-OFFICE POST TOWN · COMPANIES HOUSE REGISTER, AUGUST 2026
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About SIC 51210
How many UK companies use SIC code 51210?
2,462 active UK companies list 51210 (Freight air transport) among their registered SIC codes. Each company may register up to four. Of those, 862 put it first. The figures come from the August 2026 Companies House register snapshot, and count active companies only.
Should a drone operator register under 51210?
Usually not. Code 51210 is for transporting freight by air, so it only fits drone firms that actually carry cargo. Aerial photography and filming companies normally register 74202. Drone survey and inspection work sits better under engineering or other professional codes. SIC codes are self-selected and unchecked. Even so, an airline code on a photography drone business will confuse insurers and banks.
Does an air freight broker or cargo agent belong in division 51?
No. Division 51 is for the carriers themselves. Agents, brokers and general sales agents sell air cargo capacity on other operators' aircraft. They register in division 52, usually under 52290. A company that holds an air operator certificate and runs a brokerage arm can list codes from both divisions. Companies House permits up to four.
Find UK SIC 51210 companies
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