PayNode Launches To Disrupt B2B Jet Charter Payments

The corporate chartered aviation space is massive. According to Avinode, which offers an online marketplace for private jet charter buyers and sellers, the average transaction in this space is $35,000.

But the payment part of that transaction can be difficult. Avinode announced its solution to that point of friction this week with the launch of PayNode, a payment service provider designed for the aviation industry with a particular focus on private B2B charters.

“Imagine eBay without PayPal,” said PayNode Global Business Director Magnus Henriksson in an interview with Aviation Week. “Well, that’s how the charter industry is today.”

PayNode supports American Express card payments that allow customers that book these chartered flights through the Avinode platform to pay for that booking on the spot. Reports said PayNode is set to soon roll out support for wire transfers, as well as instant settlement and payment notification, for its clients.

Using the payments platform can be less risky than paying a broker with a credit card, PayNode said, because it requires clients to relay card data over the phone or over unsecured rails on the internet.

According to reports, traditionally, brokers and customers will go to an online marketplace like Avinode’s to set up a charter, often booked as few as two days before a flight. Brokers are frequently forced to foot the bill until the customer can pay, and the payment process is plagued by manual processes and paper documents. According to Henriksson, one out of seven trips is canceled because of payment issues; PayNode said it is hoping to decrease that number.

Henriksson pointed to the high value of these transactions that makes the payments part of the B2B charter space even more challenging.

“The average transaction is $35,000. When you consider that we list 3,200 aircraft, have 12,000 customers, some 7,000 professionals a day using Avinode and 450,000 flight requests a month, you can see that the sums of money involved are very substantial,” the executive said. “Now, we are set to disrupt the multibillion-dollar business aviation payments market.”