Once these services are provided, Ground Handlers issue invoices to the customer airlines and other clients for the services provided during the aircraft turnaround and other operations. These invoices are prepared based on published rate cards or pre-agreed standard ground handling agreements. Many Ground Handlers still rely on manual data entry and excel spreadsheets for preparing these invoices increasing the risk of delay in invoicing, incorrect billing and revenue leakages.  

Below are some of the key challenges that Ground Handlers typically encounter while preparing these invoices: 

1. 1. Decentralised Data Sources – The billing often relies on data coming from various operational systems such as flight schedules, fuel uplift logs & service consumption information in paper-based service forms. Most of the data sources are maintained in silos by multiple teams leading to inefficiencies in consolidating the data and preparing the billing.

2. 2. Complex Rate Structure – Ground Handling agreements with airlines contains multiple clauses and varied rate cards that could be based on multiple operational drivers such as aircraft type, time of operation, location of operation and aircraft attributes such as max take-off weight, wingspan etc. making the rate computation and final billing calculation challenging. The rates can further be defined based on different range of operational parameters such as turnaround duration or may have different rates for holidays and special events. Airlines often negotiate volume discounts and rebates with the Ground Handler adding an additional highly complex layer to the overall billing generation process.

3. 3. Dynamic Operations – Ground handling operations often must cater to last minute schedule changes, flight delays and cancellations that need special handling during invoicing as per the various clauses defined in the agreement. The process gets further complicated with airlines availing non-contractual services due to operational requirements often settled in cash.

4. 4. Vulnerability in Service Tracking – The traditional way of service consumption data capture typically relies on paper-based service forms which often makes it difficult to track data for all services provided especially when it comes to recording non-negotiated adhoc services often resulting in revenue leakage.

5. 5. Currency & Taxation Complexity – The service delivery rates are often defined in local currencies that could be different than the billing currency agreed with the customer. Moreover, managing operations in different regions involves handling multiple local currencies, exchange rates and tax regulations adding further complexity to the final invoicing process.