Unpaid MRO, ground handling, or lease invoices don't need a lawsuit — they need leverage. Aircraft liens, Cape Town Convention remedies, and IATA settlement pressure, backed by collectors who know the industry.
Get an aviation case review →Aviation gives creditors leverage almost no other industry has: in many jurisdictions, an MRO provider or lessor can lawfully detain an aircraft until the debt is settled. That single fact changes every negotiation.
Aviation collection isn't standard B2B collection with airport jargon added. It requires understanding airline cash flow cycles, IATA BSP settlement timing, AOC and operating-licence pressure, and the Cape Town Convention's remedies for lessors and financiers — deregistration, export, priority in insolvency.
Most files resolve amicably; a fleet operator's IATA standing and public reputation are worth more than most invoices. When they don't, the file escalates straight to lien enforcement or Cape Town remedies, with the same collector's documented record handed to counsel — no restart.
An unpaid ground-handling invoice doesn't need a reminder. It needs someone who knows which aircraft to watch for.
In Anthropic's Economic Index — which measures which occupations' tasks AI is actually used for across millions of anonymized conversations — tasks commonly done by paralegals and legal assistants rank in the top 15% of all 718 occupations tracked. Case documentation is increasingly AI-assisted; deciding whether to ground an aircraft still isn't.
Haka AI builds the case the moment your claim is placed — IATA settlement history, AOC status, fleet and lease data — so your aviation lawyer starts already briefed, not starting cold.
Source: Anthropic Economic Index, May 2026 release. Figures describe observed AI usage by occupational task, not employment.
The Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment provides a framework for securing and enforcing interests in aircraft, engines, and helicopters. For lessors and financiers, it offers deregistration and export remedies, possession and sale rights, and priority over other creditors in insolvency.
Yes. In many jurisdictions, MRO providers and maintenance facilities have a statutory or contractual right to detain an aircraft until unpaid maintenance invoices are settled. Our aviation lawyers can enforce lien rights in major MRO jurisdictions.
Yes. We monitor airline financial health indicators including IATA membership status, fleet changes, and regulatory filings. For distressed airlines, early engagement is critical — we file protective claims and exercise lien rights before formal restructuring begins.
No cure, no fee. Commission is a percentage of the recovered amount agreed upfront — no registration fees, retainers, or hidden charges. Legal costs for court proceedings and lien enforcement are assessed and approved separately.
Amicable recovery typically takes 20 to 60 days. Aircraft lien enforcement can produce immediate results when the aircraft is already in the creditor's possession. The industry's sensitivity to fleet disruption and IATA standing means amicable resolution rates run high.
Aviation debt spans ground handling invoices, MRO and maintenance charges, fuel supply debts, catering and cabin supply invoices, aerospace component and parts debts, aircraft lease payments, charter hire balances, and airport fee arrears. The leverage behind recovery is almost always the same asset: the aircraft itself, or the operator's IATA standing in an industry where fleet disruption is expensive and reputational damage is public.
Recovery starts with documentation — service agreements, purchase orders, invoices, delivery confirmations, AOG service records, work orders — backed by signed contracts and documented delivery, which move both negotiation and enforcement faster. From there, an aviation-experienced collector contacts the debtor's finance or procurement department directly, with an understanding of BSP settlement timing and seasonal cash flow that a generic collector simply doesn't have.
An aircraft lien lets an MRO provider or maintenance facility lawfully retain an aircraft until unpaid maintenance charges are settled — available in most major maintenance jurisdictions, and one of the fastest levers in aviation collection because it needs no court order to take effect once the aircraft is already in the creditor's possession.
For lessors and financiers, the Cape Town Convention offers a parallel but distinct set of remedies: deregistration and export of the aircraft, repossession and sale rights, and priority standing over other creditors in an insolvency. Over 80 states have ratified the Convention, and its remedies are specifically designed to move faster than ordinary insolvency proceedings — which is precisely the point when a distressed operator's other creditors are also racing for position.
Airlines rarely fail without warning signs — route suspensions, fleet reductions, delayed BSP remittances, IATA membership changes. Early engagement is the difference between recovery and a claim lost in a restructuring: protective filings, lien exercises, and Cape Town remedies all work better before formal insolvency proceedings begin, not after. Waiting to see if the airline recovers on its own is usually the most expensive decision a creditor makes.
Cosmopolite's aviation collectors work on no cure, no fee: nothing upfront, a fixed percentage of what's actually recovered, agreed before your file is placed. Legal costs for lien enforcement or Cape Town Convention filings are quoted and approved separately, so every escalation is your decision, not a surprise on an invoice.
Every day a fleet operator delays is a day their IATA standing is worth more to them than your invoice. Change that math.
Our debt recovery agency with over 25 years of experience provides: Business to Business Collections Services, Legal Debt Collections and worldwide Skip Tracing services.
