Skymetrix Research: 40% of Airline Invoices Still Paper & Errors Costing Industry $4.6 Billion Annually
LONDON, May 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Skymetrix, the aviation cost management company, today published findings from a major study of airline invoice digitization. Analysing 1.12 million fuel and airport charge invoices across 31 airlines during 2024–2025, the research found that 40.3% of invoices still arrive as unstructured documents — paper, scanned PDFs, or email-attached PDFs — requiring manual data entry into financial systems.
Combined with chronically low rates of detailed invoice verification, Skymetrix estimates this contributes to an 'invisible surcharge' of $4.6 billion in undetected errors paid out by airlines globally each year — roughly an eighth of the industry's total net profit.
Key findings
- 40.3% of fuel and airport invoices arrive as paper or PDF, requiring manual data entry.
- There is a 3.6% error rate when humans type invoice data into a system (APQC Accounts Payable Benchmarking), which means one in 28 entries of any paper invoice will be wrong.
- The industry is polarised: 7 airlines had paper rates below 10%; 10 had rates above 50%.
- Teams typically verify only 10–20% of invoices in detail; the majority of errors are paid without challenge.
- On average, invoicing errors amount to 1% of direct operating costs, which equates to a $4.6 billion problem for the industry.
In response, Skymetrix has launched AI Invoice Automation — a touchless invoicing solution designed to help airlines eliminate manual invoice processing, improve verification accuracy, and reduce operational leakage at scale.
"Airlines operate the most advanced machines on earth, yet 40% of the invoices those operations generate still arrive in formats that a computer cannot read. Once an invoice has to be re-keyed, error becomes statistically inevitable — and once it reaches the ledger, the cost of fixing it disappears into the noise. The 'invisible surcharge' is the financial consequence."
— Michael Scheidler, CEO, Skymetrix
About Skymetrix
Skymetrix is the leader in airline cost management solutions, with 25 years of experience and a customer base spanning 135+ airlines, including 7 of the 10 biggest airlines in Europe. The company combines AI-powered technology with deep industry knowledge to help airlines reduce direct operating costs, save time, and increase profitability.
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