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Air Travel Payment Practices Report 2025

•By PaymentCheck•Reports

UK Air Travel Payment Practices Soar Above Average, But Deep Divides Persist

The Numbers

  • Companies analysed: 50
  • Average PaymentCheck Score: 67.0/100
  • UK average (all sectors): 50.0/100
  • Difference between UK average and Air Travel: 17.0 points
  • Top Payer: HARRODS AVIATION LIMITED - 96.1/100
  • Bottom Payer: GKN AEROSPACE SERVICES LIMITED - 20.3/100
  • Regional average: Yorkshire and The Humber - 77.0/100 (4 companies)

What Stands Out

The UK air travel sector significantly outperforms the national average when it comes to payment practices, achieving a PaymentCheck Score of 67.0, a notable 17 points above the UK's overall score of 50. However, the wide disparity between the best and worst payers suggests that not all suppliers are benefiting equally from this relative financial health, and some air travel firms are lagging behind the sector average.

Best Payers

  1. HARRODS AVIATION LIMITED - 96.1/100
  2. MARTIN-BAKER AIRCRAFT COMPANY LIMITED - 93.37/100
  3. HEATHROW AIRPORT LIMITED - 90/100
  4. JET2.COM LIMITED - 89.4/100
  5. AEROTRON LIMITED - 88.8/100

Worst Payers

  1. GKN AEROSPACE SERVICES LIMITED - 20.3/100
  2. SHORT BROTHERS PLC - 22.4/100
  3. SAFRAN SEATS GB LIMITED - 28.8/100
  4. AIRBUS OPERATIONS LIMITED - 33/100
  5. AERO FABRICATIONS LIMITED - 36.6/100

Regional Patterns

Yorkshire and The Humber lead the way regionally, with an average PaymentCheck Score of 77.0 across four companies, edging out London and the South East, with scores of 76.0 and 75.9 respectively, but more data would be needed to see if those averages are statistically significant. Scotland's average of 74.4 across a single company, and the North East's 68.0, also from a single company, offer limited insight due to the small sample sizes.

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Key Takeaway

While the air travel sector’s 67.0 average payment score beats the UK average by 17 points, GKN AEROSPACE SERVICES LIMITED's 20.3 suggests some suppliers could be waiting nearly five times longer to get paid than Harrods Aviation.