Knowledge Base

In today’s competitive market, the sales experience doesn’t just start with a handshake or a presentation; it begins the moment your product catches a client’s eye. For businesses that rely on physical demonstrations or high-value sales kits, the first impression is crucial. A Bel-Air custom carry case can be the ideal choice for stylish, protective sales kits, demo kits or as an OEM case.

Make A Smart First Impression

Imagine presenting a product to a potential client. Before they see what’s inside, the first thing they notice is the case it comes in. A custom-designed carry case tailored to your brand’s aesthetic and functional requirements speaks volumes about the value you place on your products and, by extension, your clients. It sets the tone for the interaction and primes the client for a premium experience.

The act of unveiling a product from its case can significantly enhance the overall sales experience. A custom carry case designed with an eye for detail can turn the unboxing into a memorable event, adding a layer of anticipation and excitement to the sales process. This carefully curated experience can leave a lasting impression on clients, making them more likely to remember your product and brand.

With a Bel-Air custom carrying case, we can create a design that meets all of your needs. Here’s a quick look at what we can customize:

The Exterior

At Bel-Air Cases, we have no off-the-shelf cases. All of our carrying cases, shipping cases and trade show cases are made to order. We have more than 100 different case dimension options for our carrying cases, and we will build each case around your specifications.

We build each case using high-density polyethylene (HDPE). This durable material is impact-resistant, water and moisture-resistant and even resistant to many chemicals and solvents.

Add a Touch of Color

When you order a carry case from Bel-Air, you have the option of selecting our standard colors – black or silver, or you can opt for one of our optional stock colors. These include white, yellow, orange, red, olive, green and blue.

With a minimum purchase order, we may be available to provide a custom color or color matching. This can be a great option to consider if you are ordering many sales kits or OEM cases, as a unique color adds a professional touch to your carry case. We also can add custom decals, engraved plates or even a molded-in logo to your case design.

Additional Features

Need a carry case with wheels? Need a secure locking system or a combination lock? We’ve got you covered. We offer a wide range of hardware options including multiple styles of wheels, handles, feet, latches and hinges. For instance, maybe you need a carry case with wheels and a telescoping handle, for ease of use. No matter what type of components you need, we likely have it at our plant, or we can source it out for you.

The Interior

Every Bel-Air case includes a high-quality custom foam interior, and this truly sets us apart from other manufacturers.  It’s common throughout the case industry for manufacturers to hand off a custom carry case or shipping cases with a chunk of cheap diced foam rather than a custom foam interior.

This type of foam, also known as “pick and pluck” foam breaks down easily and the customer has to cut away at the foam to create cavities for their equipment. Not only is this unattractive, but it’s also just not as protective. A hard case with foam provides the ultimate level of protection for your expensive items.

We believe that if you are paying for a custom carry case, this should include custom case foam. This is especially important for cases meant for use as sales kits or demo kits or OEM cases, where the interior must display the items inside as attractively as possible.

Our team can create any type of foam interior you might need. This could be as simple as a foam lining or a complex interior with die cuts, windows, plastic dividers, panel mounts, shock mounts and more.

Medium-Duty Vs. Heavy-Duty Carry Cases

We offer two “levels” of carrying cases. Our medium-duty carrying cases are ideal as sales kits, demo kits and as OEM cases. While protective, these medium-duty cases are not meant to be shipped frequently. If you do need a carry case that can withstand many journeys, a heavy-duty carrying case will be a better option.

Our heavy-duty cases are constructed using the same materials and components we use for our heavy-duty shipping cases. However, we form the cases on our tooling for carrying cases. This provides a high level of protection yet still allows you to maneuver the case easily in tight quarters.

Why Bel Air?

Our ability to customize any case to meet your unique specifications is one of our key strengths, but we also boast an exceptional level of experience. Bel-Air Cases was the original innovator and manufacturer of vacuum-formed plastic shipping cases and carry cases. For more than 50 years, we have set the standard for case manufacturing.

Through the years, we’ve designed cases for just about every imaginable product and industry. If you need ATA cases, our heavy-duty cases meet or exceed those standards. We also can design cases that meet military and aerospace specifications.

Whether you need just one custom carry case or perhaps a fleet of carrying cases, just click on the Request a Quote tab on our homepage and fill out our contact form. A member of our team will be in touch to gather information about your case needs and to provide you with a free custom cost quote.

If you need cases that can handle hundreds of trips in the cargo hold of planes, trains, container ships and other forms of transportation, ATA shipping cases are your best bet. At Bel-Air Cases, we design custom shipping cases and carrying cases that meet ATA standards, protecting your expensive gear no matter what the transportation industry throws at it.

Facts About The ATA

The Air Transport Association (ATA) was formed in 1936. Its creation was a response to the growing need for an organization that could represent the interests of the emerging airline industry in the United States, particularly in matters of government regulation and policy. Now known as Airlines for America (A4A), this organization has played a significant role in the airline industry. Here’s a brief look at the history of the ATA.

Role in World War II: During World War II, ATA played a crucial role in coordinating the civil air industry’s contributions to the war effort. This included logistics, transporting troops and materials, and supporting the military’s use of civil aviation resources.

Post-War Expansion & Regulation: After the war, the airline industry experienced rapid growth and expansion. ATA was instrumental in navigating the regulatory landscape, advocating for policies that would benefit the industry while ensuring safety and standardization.

Deregulation & Industry Changes: A significant shift occurred in 1978 with the Airline Deregulation Act, which led to increased competition and changes in how airlines operated. ATA was actively involved in these transitions, helping its members adapt to the new competitive environment.

Safety & Security Initiatives: Throughout its history, ATA has been a strong advocate for safety and security in the airline industry. This includes developing and promoting industry standards, training, and protocols to enhance the safety of air travel.

Environmental Efforts: In more recent years, ATA has focused on environmental issues, advocating for sustainable practices and technologies in the airline industry. This includes efforts to reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency.

Rebranding to Airlines for America (A4A): In 2011, ATA rebranded itself as Airlines for America (A4A). The rebranding reflected a renewed focus on advocating for the American airline industry in a global context, addressing issues like taxation, regulation, and infrastructure.

Current Role: Today, A4A continues to represent the interests of major U.S. airlines. It plays a key role in policy advocacy, industry standards, and public representation of the airline industry.

ATA Shipping Cases – What Is ATA Spec 300?

You may have heard or seen case manufacturers discuss ATA Spec 300 on their websites. The ATA (Air Transport Association) specification 300 is a widely recognized standard in the airline industry for shipping cases, containers, and luggage. Here’s some detailed information about ATA Specification 300 and its relevance to shipping cases and luggage:

1. Purpose: ATA Spec 300 provides guidelines for the design, materials, and performance of containers and packaging used for airline transport. The aim is to ensure that these containers can withstand the rigors of air travel, including handling, loading, and unloading processes. Our heavy-duty shipping cases are built to handle any challenge the airline industry can throw at them.

2. Durability Standards: The specification sets high durability standards for cases and containers. They must be able to withstand repeated use, typically for a minimum of 100 round trips. This includes being able to endure harsh treatment such as impacts, drops, and exposure to extreme temperatures and weather conditions.

3. Material and Construction: ATA Spec 300 specifies the types of materials and construction methods that should be used for air transport containers and ATA cases. This often includes the use of high-strength, lightweight materials like reinforced plastics, aluminum, and high-grade plywood.

4. Performance Testing: Shipping cases and containers that claim to meet ATA Spec 300 must pass rigorous performance testing. These tests simulate the conditions the cases will face during transit, including drop tests, impact tests, and tests for water and dust resistance.

5. Security Features: The specification also includes guidelines for security features, such as locks and seals, to prevent unauthorized access and ensure the safety of the contents during transport. We have a variety of locks and latches, including TSA-approved locks that we can add to your custom equipment cases.

6. Customization for Sensitive Equipment: Many ATA-compliant cases are designed to transport sensitive equipment, such as musical instruments, electronic devices, and medical equipment. They often feature custom foam inserts or other protective measures tailored to the specific items being transported.

7. Industry Usage: While the ATA 300 specification is particularly relevant to the airline industry, it is also a benchmark for other industries that require high standards of protection and durability in shipping cases, transport cases, custom road cases, and trade show shipping cases.

Our ATA Shipping Cases

The design and production teams at Bel-Air Cases have been crafting durable custom shipping cases for more than 50 years, and we set the industry standard for vacuum-formed custom cases.

We can build your cases to meet ATA standards as well as many MIL specs. In fact, our clients often include the military and the aerospace industry. This means we can design cases that can handle jaunts through the desert on a military vehicle or perhaps even a trip outside the solar system, not to mention the cargo hold of a 747.

Each of our cases is custom-built with your equipment in mind, and each case includes a custom foam interior. Unlike some case manufacturers, we’d never build a case and then hand it off to a client with a chunk of cheap diced foam inside. Instead, we build custom foam that cushions and protects every inch of your equipment.

Equipment cases with foam are essential to truly protect your gear. We are experts at crafting foam interiors, so whether you need a simple foam liner or you need custom die-cuts, shock mounts, panel mounts, interior doors, plastic dividers and more. Our high-quality case foam not only protects your equipment but can display it to its best advantage.

We also can customize the color and look of your plastic shipping cases, custom carrying cases or trade show cases. We can add custom decals, engraved plates and molded-in logos to any case. We offer two standard colors – silver and black, as well as many stock colors, including white, red, blue, green, olive, yellow and orange. With a specific minimum order, we also may be able to provide you with a custom color or color-matching services.

Order ATA Shipping Cases Now

At Bel-Air, we’ve been designing custom cases since 1967, and we can create custom ATA shipping cases that meet all of your specifications. To receive a free cost quote for your made-to-order case project, just click on the Request A Quote tab on our homepage and fill out our contact form. A member of our sales team will be in touch shortly to discuss your project.

While travel might provide food for the soul, there’s no getting around the fact that transporting expensive equipment can be fraught with peril. Whether you are transporting gear via train, plane or ship, you need cargo cases that can handle the extremes of travel and Bel Air Cases can design shipping cases that meet all of your case needs.

5 Reasons Why You Need Custom Cargo Cases

While you can find many companies that produce off-the-shelf cargo cases, this is not the best option for many types of equipment. Custom cargo cases offer several advantages over off-the-shelf cases, especially for clients with specific needs or high-value items. Here are five reasons why a custom cargo case can be the perfect solution to your case needs.

1. Tailored Protection

Custom plastic cases with foam inserts built to the customer’s exact specifications ensure that the contents fit snugly, minimizing movement and potential damage during transit. This precision fit offers superior protection compared to generic, off-the-shelf cases where items might shift or be subjected to impacts.

2. Optimized Space Utilization

Custom plastic cases can be designed to maximize the use of space, accommodating the unique shapes and sizes of the items being shipped. This can lead to more efficient packing, reduced shipping costs, and the ability to fit more items securely in a given space.

Our custom instrument cases and cargo cases include custom foam inserts. Unlike many case manufacturers, we never hand off a case with cheap pick-and-pluck foam. Instead, we can create a hard plastic case with foam inside that gently cushions and protects every piece of your equipment perfectly, adding an extra layer of protection to an already highly durable case.

3. Branding and Professionalism

Custom cases can be designed with the client’s branding, colors, and logos. This not only enhances the professional image of the company but also makes the cases easily identifiable, reducing the chances of mix-ups or losses during shipping.

At Bel-Air Cases, we offer a plethora of custom features. We can design heavy duty cases with molded-in logos, custom decals or engraved plates. In addition to our standard colors of black and silver, we have additional stock colors, including red, green, olive, blue, orange, yellow and white. We also can customize the wheels, handles, locks and latches.

4. Durability and Longevity

Custom cargo case manufacturers often use high-quality materials tailored to the specific needs of the client. Whether the client requires waterproofing, UV resistance, or other special features, custom cases can be built to last, offering better long-term value than many off-the-shelf alternatives.

5. Special Features and Add-Ons

Custom cases can be equipped with special features that off-the-shelf cases might not offer. This can include things like humidity control, shock indicators, reinforced corners, multiple locking mechanisms, or even built-in tracking devices. Such features can be crucial for shipping sensitive or high-value items.

Bel-Air Cargo Cases: Built To ATA Standards

If you need an ATA case or perhaps a case that meets MIL specs, we can design whatever you might need. Through the years, we’ve built custom shipping cases and cargo cases for many military and aerospace clients, and they require cases that can handle all types of extremes. Whether you need a case for your next trip to Mars or a case that can handle a bumpy road in the deepest rainforest or on the coldest tundra, we’ve got you covered.

Bel-Air Cases: 50+ Years Of Quality & Innovation

Back in the late 60s when we were just getting started, hard plastic shipping cases weren’t something commonly used by travelers. In fact, we were the first company to produce professional-quality, vacuum-formed shipping cases, trade show cases and carrying cases.

In those days, if you needed a durable cargo case, your options tended to be heavy and bulky, such as fabricated wood road cases or bulky metal cases. Using thermoform plastics, specifically high-density polyethylene (HDPE), we were able to create an even more durable case that was also extremely lightweight. This not only makes it easier to maneuver a case around a crowded airport or train station, but it also reduces shipping and transport costs.

HDPE also has many other advantages over other case materials. In addition to its light weight, HDPE is water-resistant and moisture-resistant, and resistant to many solvents. This plastic is also one of the most durable types of plastics and even absorbs vibrations, which can damage delicate equipment. HDPE also can handle temperature extremes with ease.

While some companies might include a limited lifetime guarantee or warranty on their cases, we’ve never needed to do that. We simply stand by our cases throughout their lifetime. If a case component breaks, we will fix it. We usually can repair most case defects free of charge.

We know that the transportation industry is tough on cargo, so while we cannot guarantee that your custom cases will never be damaged, we can assure you that we will always repair the damages for as long as you own the case. So, whether you have a shipping case from 1968, 1988 or 2022, we will be happy to fix any issues.

Order Cargo Cases Today!

Whether you need just one custom equipment case or a fleet of cargo cases, the team at Bel-Air Cases can provide you with exactly what you need. To get started with a custom shipping case order, simply click on the Request A Quote tab on our homepage, fill out our quick contact form and a member of our team will be in touch to provide you with a free quote for our services.

Whether you need a case durable enough to handle interplanetary extremes or you just need something hardy enough to withstand the horrors of the baggage claim at JFK, the team at Bel-Air Cases can provide you with the world’s most durable custom shipping cases with wheels.

We entitled this article “Options for the Extreme Traveler,” but, to be honest, these days, just about all travel experiences seem a bit extreme. From finding parking in a gigantic parking garage to navigating through security to finding a semi-clean spot in the airport where you can plug in your mobile phone, just getting to your airport gate can feel like a huge challenge.

Meanwhile, down somewhere in the depths of the airport, your shipping cases are bouncing about on conveyor belts, being stacked on trams and then tossed unceremoniously in the hold of a giant aircraft.

During this perilous journey, they may come into contact with other cargo, extreme temperatures, rain and perhaps even doused with an iced pumpkin spiced latte when the baggage handler trips over a cable and splashes their coffee drink all over your equipment cases (we know this can happen, as we’ve retrieved our share of suspiciously sticky, coffee-scented cases from the airport baggage claim).

No matter what the transportation industry throws at our shipping cases, they are built to handle just about anything. In fact, we build cases for military and aerospace clients, and those cases have to be built to handle the most extreme conditions on earth. Here’s a quick look at how a Bel-Air shipping case can protect your equipment.

Protection Against Humidity

Humidity can wreak havoc on us all. It can lower our energy levels, cause dehydration and even cause our hair to frizz – gasp. If you are transporting expensive equipment in a humid environment, this moist air also can damage your items, as many types of equipment are particularly sensitive to humidity. Our heavy duty shipping cases can protect your equipment from humidity, even in the middle of the Amazon.

Protection Against Rain & Liquids

If your shipping case is left on a rainy tarmac, it absolutely must protect whatever is inside. Our shipping cases with wheels can handle everything from a light misty fog to a torrential downpour or a massive blizzard. Your plane might not be able to take off in these conditions, but your Bel-Air shipping cases will be able to handle the weather with ease.

Protect Against Temperature Extremes

While cargo holds in airplanes are temperature-controlled, this isn’t the case with some cargo holds. It’s also possible that you will be taking your cases to someplace with extreme temperatures, such as Death Valley, Antarctica or perhaps even the Moon. Our cases are built to handle temperature extremes and won’t crack, buckle or melt no matter where your journeys take you.

Protection Against Jostling & Vibration

Delicate equipment can be damaged easily, but our case exteriors and quality custom foam interiors protect delicate items from jostling and vibrations. We never pass off one of our custom cases with a chunk of cheap diced foam. Instead, we craft custom interiors to protect every centimeter of your equipment.

We also can provide you with features such as interior doors, panel mounts, shock mounts, windows and much more. Whether your plastic case with foam is traveling across the desert on a horse with no name or bouncing along the El Camino de la Muerte in Bolivia, the items inside your Bel-Air shipping cases will be safe and secure.

The Bel-Air Difference

Our shipping cases with wheels, however, are crafted from high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which is one of the most durable materials on earth. This hardy plastic is resistant to moisture and many chemicals and solvents, as well as able to handle extreme temperatures.

It’s also a highly versatile material, providing us with nearly endless case configuration options. Additionally, HDPE is extremely lightweight, which makes it easier and cheaper to transport. Other common types of transport cases, such as fabricated wood cases and roto-molded cases are extremely heavy, which makes them difficult to maneuver (even with wheels) and more expensive to transport.

Wheel Options

We offer a wide variety of wheel options, and, with many case sizes, you also have the option of adding a telescoping handle. With cases larger than 30”, however, we do often recommend a 3” or 7” end handle instead of a telescoping handle as this case size is already sufficiently long for easy and comfortable maneuvering.

Additional Customization Options

At Bel-Air Cases, we have no off-the-shelf cases. Everything we make is 100% custom, from the exterior size to the interior foam, as well as wheels, handles, latches and locks. Of course, we also can customize the aesthetics of your case.

We offer standard colors of black and silver, as well as a variety of stock colors including white, yellow, orange, red, blue, olive, green and blue. Selecting shipping cases in a bright hue can make it easy to identify and adds a professional touch to your case.

Additionally, we can create shipping cases, trade show cases and carrying cases with molded-in logos, custom decals or engraved plates. These can be eye-catching features that further promote your brand.

Order Shipping Cases Today!

Our custom shipping cases with wheels can be your best protection against the rigors of transportation. Whether you need just one custom case or multiple shipping cases, the team at Bel-Air is ready to provide you with a case design that meets all of your specifications. To get started, just click on the Request a Quote tab on our homepage and fill out our quick contact form.