- How Outdated Aeronautical Billing Systems Are Holding Airports Back
- How Aeronautical Billing Systems Drive Airport Efficiency
- Choosing the Right Aeronautical Billing Solution: A Strategic Framework
- AIS ALDIS: Built for Accurate and Scalable Aeronautical Billing
- TLDR; It’s Time to Rethink Aeronautical Billing
- FAQs
Aeronautical billing refers to the process by which airports calculate and invoice charges to airlines for using airport infrastructure. This includes services such as landing, parking, air navigation, and passenger-related fees. Therefore, aeronautical billing is no longer a routine administrative task; it plays a crucial role in an airport’s financial sustainability and operational control.
As global air traffic is expected to reach 17.7 billion passengers by 2043, the volume and complexity of billing transactions will only increase. Simultaneously, airports face mounting regulatory expectations around transparency, accuracy, and financial reporting. In this context, robust, integrated billing systems are essential not just to manage revenue, but to ensure accountability and long-term viability.
This blog examines why airport decision-makers must prioritise aeronautical billing, the operational and financial benefits of modern systems, and the key factors to consider when choosing the right solution.
How Outdated Aeronautical Billing Systems Are Holding Airports Back
Historically, airport billing has been handled through manual spreadsheets, fragmented legacy software, or in-house tools built for limited operational needs. While such approaches may have worked when traffic was lighter and regulatory scrutiny minimal, the aviation landscape has evolved significantly now. As a result, the outdated systems can no longer keep pace with the growing flight volumes and complex fee structures.
1. Operational Challenges in Legacy Aeronautical Billing Systems
As airports scale up their operations, problems like delayed invoicing, inaccurate data, and integration failures begin to surface. These are not minor inefficiencies. Rather, they directly affect revenue assurance, compliance, and service quality.
Delayed Invoicing
In many airports, invoices are generated manually after collecting flight data from multiple sources. Thus, without real-time integration, billing can be delayed by days or weeks, often after the airline has already departed or completed its operations.
Inaccurate or Missing Data
Manual data entry increases the risk of omitting critical parameters like aircraft weight, turnaround times, or night-time surcharges. Therefore, this results in undercharging or disputes.
Disjointed Systems and Integration Failures
Many billing platforms operate in silos, disconnected from AODB (Airport Operational Database), ATC systems, and flight management tools. Therefore, this leads to mismatches in flight data and billing records.
Difficulty Complying with Regulations
Regulatory bodies increasingly require detailed, itemised billing records and clear audit trails. Therefore, without automated traceability, compliance becomes a labour-intensive process prone to error.
2. The Hidden Business Impact of Inefficient Aeronautical Billing
The operational problems discussed above don’t just stay in the billing department. They have ripple effects across the airport’s business model. When billing is inaccurate, delayed, or non-transparent, it creates broader issues. This includes:
Revenue Uncertainty
Incomplete data or missed charges directly reduce revenue collection. In addition, unreliable billing forecasts make it harder to plan budgets or allocate resources efficiently.
Strained Airline Relationships
Airlines expect clear and timely invoices. However, when errors occur frequently or when billing lacks transparency, it damages trust and complicates contract negotiations.
Wider Operational Inefficiencies
Finance, operations, and IT teams spend extra time reconciling data, manually correcting errors, or responding to airline queries. Consequently, this diverts focus from strategic tasks and slows down decision-making.
Given these risks, it’s clear that aeronautical billing can no longer be viewed as a routine backend task. Rather, it must evolve into a strategic function, supporting accurate revenue capture, regulatory compliance, and real-time operational visibility.
How Aeronautical Billing Systems Drive Airport Efficiency
Modern aeronautical billing systems are designed to do far more than just generate invoices. Instead, they empower airports to automate, optimise, and future-proof their billing workflows. Moreover, automating the billing processes and integrating them with operational data gives airport leaders the visibility and control they need to thrive in a highly regulated, high-traffic environment.
An AI-generated image of an airport office setup where staff operate aeronautical billing software. | Credit: ChatGPT
The following are the key benefits of aeronautical billing system:
1. Real-Time Revenue Capture
Modern billing platforms capture aeronautical event data, such as landing time, aircraft classification, and MTOW (Maximum Take-Off Weight) directly from operational systems. This enables instant invoice generation, eliminating delays and minimising opportunities for revenue disputes.
2. Integrated Aeronautical Billing Data Ecosystem
A well-designed billing system synchronises seamlessly with core airport systems such as the AODB, ATC platforms, and flight schedules. This integration removes the need for redundant data entry, reduces the risk of human error, and ensures consistency across departments.
3. Transparency and Traceability
Each and every billing event is logged and timestamped accurately, creating a complete and auditable trail for financial and operational teams. Consequently, this transparency supports faster reconciliation and builds trust with airline clients during billing clarifications or audits.
4. Aeronautical Billing Analytics and Reporting
Custom dashboards provide insights into passenger traffic patterns, airline-specific revenue, seasonal trends, and underutilised airport assets. As a result, these analytics empower airport leaders to plan strategically, optimise pricing, and forecast future income with greater accuracy.
5. Aeronautical Billing and Regulatory Compliance
Modern systems adhere to established billing frameworks such as ICAO’s Doc 9082, IATA Airport Handling Manual (AHM) and IATA Standard Ground Handling Agreement (SGHA), and national guidelines like those from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. In doing so, these standards ensure accurate charge calculations, audit readiness, and regulatory alignment.
For airport managers and financial officers, adopting a purpose-built aeronautical billing system reduces manual intervention. In addition, it ensures reliable revenue capture and streamlines compliance reporting. Ultimately, a robust billing solution isn’t just a back-office tool. It’s a driver of efficiency, transparency, and long-term competitiveness.
Choosing the Right Aeronautical Billing Solution: A Strategic Framework
Aeronautical billing directly influences revenue integrity, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder satisfaction in today’s complex aviation environment. As such, selecting the right system requires both technical scrutiny and strategic foresight, especially for airports aiming to scale operations, reduce disputes, and streamline finance.
Let’s look at the critical factors airport decision-makers must evaluate before investing in a billing solution.
1. Automation Capability
Does the system eliminate manual data entries and minimise billing delays? Automation should extend across the entire workflow, from data ingestion to invoice dispatch, ensuring speed and accuracy at scale.
2. Scalability
Can the platform handle increased flight movements during seasonal peaks, the addition of new terminals, or future route expansions? A scalable system ensures longevity and reduces the need for costly migrations down the line.
3. Integration Readiness
Does the solution support APIs, webhooks, or plug-ins for seamless integration with your existing airport systems such as AODB, ATC, and FIDS? Systems that lack interoperability often create silos and delay downstream operations.
4. Regulatory Intelligence
Is the system updated in line with ICAO, IATA, and national billing requirements? Built-in regulatory logic ensures continuous compliance without manual interventions or costly audit corrections.
5. Customisation
Can the billing engine accommodate your airport’s unique tariff structures, seasonal discounts, or airline-specific agreements? Adaptability and Flexibility here are key to accurate billing and maintaining commercial trust.
6. Support and Reliability
Does the vendor offer 24/7 support and proven service-level guarantees? System downtime or delayed support can result in missed billing cycles and strained airline relationships.
Check out our recent case study on how fragmented systems in the Europe Airspace cost €4 Billion Annually.
In short, selecting the right aeronautical billing system isn’t merely a technical upgrade. Rather, it’s a strategic investment that shapes your airport’s financial health, regulatory standing, and long-term operational success. Therefore, a well-matched system safeguards revenues, reduces administrative burden, and builds long-term resilience in your operations.
AIS ALDIS: Built for Accurate and Scalable Aeronautical Billing
At Airport Information Systems (AIS), we understand that aeronautical billing is more than just for accounting. Indeed, it’s a critical operational function that directly impacts revenue, compliance, and decision-making. That’s why we developed ALDIS (Airport Landing Dues Information System), a robust, configurable billing solution now trusted by over thirty airports worldwide.
ALDIS is purpose-built to manage the growing complexity of modern airport operations. Specifically, it offers a complete billing lifecycle, from charge calculation to invoicing, supported by real-time data integration, powerful audit tools, and compatibility with leading financial systems.
What Makes ALDIS Stand Out in Aeronautical Billing
Flexible Billing Engine: ALDIS handles standard, flat, and operator-specific charges with ease. Additionally, it supports landing, parking, fuel, passenger taxes, and custom fees such as ground power, de-icing, and crew transport.
Dynamic Tariff Management: ALDIS configures discounts, surcharges, sales taxes (up to 9 levels), and airline-specific incentive targets with full transparency.
Static Data Integration: ALDIS maintains ICAO, IATA, and UK CAA-compliant data on aircraft, operators, invoice cycles, and airport infrastructure. Additionally, this data can be accessed by connected systems such as AFIDS, ensuring consistency and seamless interoperability.
Pre-Invoicing and Invoicing Automation: Automates end-to-end billing process, including invoice generation, multi-currency support (EUR, USD, and local), and email delivery.
Data Extract Tool for Reporting: Empowers users to generate custom Excel reports on metrics like runway utilisation, movement history, financial vs. contract comparisons, and load factors by route or airline.
Audit-Ready Compliance: Offers comprehensive audit routines and traceability. As a result, it helps in meeting the regulatory requirements including UK CAA-AvStats, NATS, and international standards.
Financial System Integration: Seamlessly interfaces with widely used systems such as SAP, Sage, SUN Accounting, Exchequer, and Pegasus for streamlined reconciliation and reporting.
Multi-Airport Support: Designed to manage billing operations across multiple terminals or airport locations from a single, centralised platform.
Whether you’re overseeing a busy international hub or a regional airstrip, ALDIS adapts to your scale, simplifies billing workflows, and strengthens financial accuracy. In simple words, ALDIS helps you operate with confidence and clarity.
TLDR; It’s Time to Rethink Aeronautical Billing
As airport operations grow in scale and complexity, outdated billing systems create financial blind spots, regulatory risks, and operational inefficiencies. To meet the demands of modern aviation, airports need smart billing solutions that are intelligent, integrated, and built for agility.
That’s where ALDIS by AIS stands apart. ALDIS is engineered to streamline billing from data capture to invoicing, with real-time system integration, end-to-end automation, configurable tariff engines, multi-airport support, and audit-ready compliance. It delivers the transparency, accuracy, and operational control airports need to thrive in a high-volume, high-stakes environment.
For airports aiming to modernise their financial infrastructure, ALDIS offers not just a system, but a long-term solution that supports growth, strengthens transparency, and builds resilience into every transaction.
Airports worldwide are transforming aeronautical billing with ALDIS. Let your airport be next.
