An airport charges audit that ticks every billed landing against what flew, and follows every overcharge to the credit
Every billed landing checked against what flew, and every overcharge credited.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Airport Charges Audit is an airport charges audit run by AI agents: it checks every airport and air navigation charge against the flights the airline flew, the certificated weight of the tail that flew and the tariff in force that day. It replaces the sampled airport charges reconciliation done in spreadsheets with airport invoice validation of every line: eight agents read each bill in any format, tick every line, re-derive each finding independently and draft the dispute; the airport cost analyst approves and signs, and the credit is tracked to cash.
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Airport and air navigation charges are one of an airline's largest costs, and without an airport charges audit they are paid as billed. Every airport and every navigation provider bills them monthly in its own format: IATA SIS supplier invoices, PDFs by email, portal files and scanned paper. Accounts payable keys the header total; the line detail is rarely keyed at all. An airport cost analyst exports the flown schedule and the fleet register and checks a sample of landings in a spreadsheet, then looks up the airport's rates and charges for the fiscal year and the terms of the airline use agreement.
The money sits in the lines nobody had time to check. At US airports, landing fees are billed per 1,000 lb of maximum gross landed weight, so one wrong weight in a register is billed on every landing. Diverted and canceled flights stay on the bill because the airport billed from the schedule, tariffs change mid-year, a parking free window is ignored, and air navigation route charges are billed on the filed route instead of the route flown, or on another type's MTOW. When a dispute does go out by email, someone has to remember to check that the credit memo arrives and is applied — and credits go stale.
Estimated split, in hours, for checking one large monthly airport bill line by line — by hand, where it is done at all, and with the solution, where the person reviews the agents' findings and signs.
Eight agents tick every line, check each other and draft the dispute; the cost analyst signs.
Corvane Airways, a fictional network carrier hubbed at DEN, receives LAX's September invoice LX-26-09-0412 on Oct 2 as an IATA SIS e-invoice: $1,240,318.40 on 1,567 lines, due Nov 1, dispute window to Dec 1. This is how the airport charges audit runs, screen by screen, in the working solution.
September bills are in. Overnight the agents read 145 invoices and ticked 214,906 lines against Corvane's flights, weights and tariffs. Her home screen shows 145 of 162 expected bills received, $501,296 of overbilling across 17 bills that need her, and $1,064,212 of credits outstanding on 38 disputes. LAX is at the top.
Movement matcher: “Nine movements do not match: 6 landings of a 787-9 at 777-300ER weight and 3 flights that diverted on Sep 21 and never landed. $27,640.48; the dispute letter is drafted.”
LAX's bill is a tally tape, one tick per billed line, grouped by charge and by day. Landings: 1,142 lines at $6.17 per 1,000 lb, $920,823.25; the international arrivals facility: 60 lines, $246,927.00. Matched ticks are quiet. Eleven lines the agents resolved on their own carry their reason — 4 tail swaps of the same type, 3 ferry landings, 2 flight-number changes and 2 arrivals after midnight UTC. Twelve lines do not match, and each one says why.
“Hover a tick to read it; click to see the records.”
Dana re-runs the check to see it step by step. The Invoice reader reads 1,567 lines from the e-invoice, totals agreeing to the cent. The Movement matcher matches 1,142 landings to flight records and finds 3 with no LAX arrival. The Weight and tariff checker re-prices on the FY2026–27 tariff and the weights register. The Verifier re-derives every finding independently and agrees; the Dispute drafter writes the letter and the short-pay instruction; the hand-off waits for Dana.
“Same result as this morning. Nothing changed on the bill or in the records.”
Six landings of N831CV on CV 118 from NRT — Sep 9, 12, 16, 19, 23 and 27 — were billed at 554,000 lb. N831CV is a 787-9 certificated at 425,000 lb. At $6.17 per 1,000 lb that is $795.93 too much on each landing: 6 × (554 − 425) × $6.17 = $4,775.58. The Verifier re-derived it from the records on its own, to the cent.
Every value carries a numbered citation that opens the invoice line, the weight certificate or the tariff passage.
On Sep 21 runway 25L closed in fog. CV 62 diverted to SFO, CV 940 to LAS and CV 176 to ONT, yet LAX billed their landings and the arrivals facility for 812 passengers: $22,864.90. ACARS shows each “in” at the diversion airport, and LAX's own movement data has no arrival. Dana asks why the ferry landings are not disputed too; the agents answer with the flight records.
“The ferry landings on Sep 22 were real landings at LAX… The agreement bills each revenue and non-revenue landing, so we pay them. We dispute only the Sep 21 arrivals that never happened.”
The agents look for Corvane's own errors first. On Sep 8, when four tails moved over from Halvard Air, row 212 of Corvane's fleet file gave N831CV the row of N731CV, a 777-300ER. The airport billed what Corvane sent, the file went to 41 airports, and SFO billed 2 landings the same way. The corrected row is ready, and goes to the 41 airports only when a person approves it.
The Cost trend watcher proposes fixes; it never changes a register or a tariff.
The Dispute drafter's letter to LAX Revenue Accounting cites §7.4 of the airline operating agreement, sets out each item with its evidence and owns Corvane's fleet-file error. Dana signs with the reason code “Billing error — weight and movements”. Accounts payable is told to pay $1,212,677.92 by Nov 1 and hold $27,640.48 against dispute AC-D-2610-001, and the Credit tracker starts watching the reply clock.
“I have reviewed the findings and the evidence, and I approve this dispute on behalf of Corvane Airways.”
DEN billed $412,800.00 for gates B21–B36 that Corvane's Concourse B lease already covers — section 5.2 includes the use of those gates in the rent. The Verifier agrees and the dispute is inside its window, but it is above Dana's $50,000 limit, so she approves it and sends it to Robert Hale to co-sign before anything goes to the airport.
“Limit — Above $50,000: Robert Hale co-signs.”
On FRA's bill the Weight and tariff checker read the engine emissions data as class 2 for 8 landings, $4,118.40 overbilled. The Verifier read the same table as class 3 for the engine variant on 2 of the tails, which would cut the finding to $1,029.60. Nothing goes out on one agent's word: both workings are kept and Dana chooses.
“The Verifier disagrees. Both workings are kept; a person chooses.”
The LAX dispute joins the credits list, reply due Nov 29. JFK is 17 days past its reply clock on an $18,240.60 dispute, so a chaser is drafted for approval. ORD's credit memo CM-26-0418 for $9,420.00 on the September invoice matches its July dispute and waits for Dana to confirm. Recovered this year: $3,842,610.
The Credit tracker never writes off a dispute; a write-off needs a person.
The same bill, seen by the five people who carry it at Corvane — what their month looked like, and what it looks like now.
Eight agents tick every line, check each other and draft the dispute; the cost analyst signs.
Reads every airport and navigation bill in any format — IATA SIS e-invoices, PDFs from the inbox, airport portal files and scans — into lines, with a confidence for every field, and asks a person when it is not sure.
Ticks each billed movement against Corvane's flight records (OOOI and ACARS times) and the airport's movement data, resolving tail swaps, ferry flights, flight-number changes and UTC dates, and finding diversions and cancellations.
Re-prices every line from the certificated weight of the tail that flew and the tariff in force on the movement date — landing fees per 1,000 lb of maximum landing weight, passenger charges, gates, parking and ground power.
Recomputes air navigation route charges from the route Corvane actually flew: distance, weight factor from the takeoff weight, and each provider's unit rate.
Re-derives every finding from the records without seeing the first agent's working. When it disagrees, both workings go to a person.
Drafts the dispute letter citing the agreement clause and each line's evidence, the short-pay instruction to accounts payable and the evidence pack.
Follows each dispute to cash: the airport's reply clock, chasers drafted before it lapses, and credit memos matched by dispute number, amount and period when they land on a later bill.
Explains each station's change in cost — volume, aircraft mix, tariff and billing error — reads new rate letters, and traces root causes, including Corvane's own.
Signs every dispute; the Airport Affairs Director co-signs above $50,000. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Every working screen has an ask box. Ask about a line, a rate or a date — or tell the agents what to do. Answers cite the invoice line, the flight record, the weight certificate or the tariff passage.
Why not dispute the ferry landings?
The ferry landings on Sep 22 were real landings at LAX: CV 9062 from SFO, CV 9940 from LAS and CV 9176 from ONT, with no passengers. The agreement bills each revenue and non-revenue landing, so we pay them. We dispute only the Sep 21 arrivals that never happened.
Why is N831CV billed at 777 weight?
N831CV is a 787-9 certificated at 425,000 lb, but six landings were billed at 554,000 lb. The cause is ours: our Sep 8 fleet file gave N831CV the row of a 777-300ER. I have a corrected file ready for the 41 airports that received it.
What should AP pay?
Pay $1,212,677.92 by Nov 1 and hold $27,640.48 against the dispute. The agreement lets us dispute within 60 days and pay the rest when due.
Hold all Sep 21 lines
Done. I have held the 6 lines dated Sep 21 for CV 62, CV 940 and CV 176 from payment, $22,864.90, and told Accounts Payable. Every other Sep 21 line ticks and stays payable.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
How the audit runs is a setting. Every change is signed, logged and tested on last month's bills before it takes effect.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Dispute a line when it differs by more than | $25 | Any amount; re-tested on last month before saving |
| Release a clean bill to AP on its own under | $2,000,000 | Any amount; only when every line ticks |
| Ask a person when a field is read below | 92% confidence | Any percentage |
| Co-signature above | $50,000 | Any amount; the Airport Affairs Director co-signs |
| Landing weight used for pricing | Certificated maximum landing weight from the weights register | On or off |
| A movement did not happen | Only when two independent sources agree | On or off |
| Check every bill within | 3 business days of receipt | Any number of days |
| Raise a dispute · draft a chaser | 10 days before the window closes · after 30 days without a reply | Any number of days |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (IATA, via Symphony Solutions — airport and air navigation charges 15–16% of air transport costs, and a 3.6% re-keying error rate; San Francisco Controller audit 05031, 2006 — landing fees per 1,000 lb, and 393 landings reported at the wrong weight). Corvane Airways, Halvard Air, the people, flights, tails, invoices and rates named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Airport Charges Audit is an airport charges audit run by AI agents: it checks every airport and air navigation charge against the flights the airline flew, the certificated weight of the tail that flew and the tariff in force that day. It replaces the sampled airport charges reconciliation done in spreadsheets with airport invoice validation of every line: eight agents read each bill in any format, tick every line, re-derive each finding independently and draft the dispute; the airport cost analyst approves and signs, and the credit is tracked to cash.
At US airports, landing fees are billed per 1,000 lb of maximum gross landed weight, so the Weight and tariff checker re-prices every landing from the FAA-certificated weight of the tail that flew, taken from the weights register, and the rate in force on the movement date. In the working solution it found six landings of a 787-9 billed at 777-300ER weight — 554,000 lb billed against 425,000 lb certificated, $4,775.58.
Yes. The Movement matcher ticks each billed movement against the airline's flight records with OOOI and ACARS times and the airport's movement data. A movement is treated as not having happened only when two independent sources agree, and ferry or positioning landings that really happened stay billable.
The Navigation charge checker recomputes each flight from the route actually flown, the weight factor from the takeoff weight and the provider's unit rate. In the working solution it recomputed 1,186 European route-charge flights and found one billed twice and six billed on the filed route instead of the shorter route flown; on the Canadian bill it found two 787-9s charged with a 777-300ER MTOW weight factor.
The Dispute drafter writes the letter citing the agreement clause and each line's evidence, with a short-pay instruction for accounts payable and an evidence pack. After a person signs, the Credit tracker watches the airport's reply clock, drafts chasers before it lapses and matches the credit memo to the dispute when it lands on a later bill.
No. The agents draft and recommend; nothing goes to an airport until a person signs it, and they never pay, write off, or change a register or a tariff. A person approves, edits or rejects every finding and signs every dispute with a reason code, and disputes above $50,000 need the Airport Affairs Director's co-signature.
Yes. The line threshold for a dispute, the automatic release limit, the reading confidence, the co-signature limit, the rules the agents follow and the clocks for checking, disputing and chasing are all settings. Each change is signed, logged and tested on last month's bills before it takes effect.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your use agreements, tariffs, weights register and a sample of past airport and navigation invoices — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own bills first.
Yesterday's flights earned by morning, and the revenue lost in suspense back on the books.
1-min demoInterline Billing and SettlementEvery rejection answered inside its time limit, with every coupon tied to its agreement.
1-min demoSpecial Prorate Agreement ManagementEvery agreement tested on real trips before it bills; no partner billed on a lapsed one.
1-min demoWe'll run Airport Charges Audit on a sample of your own past airport and navigation invoices.