Swedish company Avinode, which hosts the Marketplace online platform for buying and selling air charter services, has taken a step closer to integrating its PayNode payment platform with its existing TripManager and SchedAero systems. Users can now create PayNode payment requests automatically with “just a few clicks” within their workflow, ready for emailing to a customer, said the company.

PayNode was launched at NBAA 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Magnus Henriksson, global business director for PayNode, said: “We’ve had a highly positive response from brokers and operators to the launch of PayNode. The solution has been designed to target key pain points in their businesses: the need to work faster, to move large sums of money internationally at short notice and to get paid swiftly.”

Henriksson said that manual processing consists of two separate transactions, “payer to broker and broker to operator.” The problem with this, he explained, is “the operator won’t take off until they have the money, and the broker won’t pay [the operator] until they have been paid.”

He said that PayNode “is the only platform that ensures brokers and operators receive payment within 24 hours following a flight, which is a huge cash flow benefit.” The system is based on transaction fees, not any sort of up-front or membership fee.

Henriksson said, “The integration of PayNode with Avinode TripManager and SchedAero ensures funds can flow through the links in the payment chain and into our customers’ bank accounts more effortlessly than ever.” He said that PayNode is to the charter marketplace what PayPal is to eBay. “The technology is meant to bring business aviation into the 21st century by adopting modern technology.”

Payment was an area Avinode had been exploring for some time, “especially since 2014 when World Fuel [through its subsidiary MultiService] bought a majority share of Avinode,” said Henriksson. MultiService is a specialist in electronic payment technology, so it was a turning point when it became an Avinode sister company.

According to Henriksson, the day is coming soon when photocopying IDs and the fronts and backs of credit cards will be eliminated with PayNode. Users need not be members of Avinode or its SchedAero sister company to take advantage of the system.

“Our focus initially is EEA [European Economic Area] countries and North America,” he told AIN, adding that the transaction side would be brought in gradually beginning this year.

New Asia Head

Reflecting the company’s commitment to the Asia Pacific region, it recently appointed Annika Abraham managing director, EMEAA (Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia). She had worked at Avinode (Booth 525) for six years as CFO and previously worked in financial roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nordea and Volvo Business Services.

“There is huge potential for business aviation in Asia to grow significantly over the coming years,” said Abraham. “In the past 24 months, there has been substantial growth in brokers throughout the region which has resulted in a steady increase in charter requests through the Avinode Marketplace.

“This year, ABACE is a great opportunity to showcase the range of our products and services in the region,” she said. “Brokers will be able to demo our recently enhanced TripManager tool, which has been designed to help them identify their top customers and improve service. We will also be showing visitors the benefits of our payment platform, PayNode, which has been integrated across all Avinode Group systems.”

Oliver King, acting CEO of Avinode Group, said: “Annika has been centrally involved in all investor discussions and oversees all commercial policies and membership agreements. We are delighted that she has accepted the offer to head up the international teams.”