At Avinode, our goal is to make it easy for operators and brokers to find and compare aircraft efficiently. Aircraft categorization keeps our marketplace organized so that searches and pricing comparisons are consistent and meaningful across all regions and fleet types. You can find our category page here.
How we classify aircraft
We classify aircraft based on Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) the maximum mass at which an aircraft is certified for takeoff. MTOW, defined by the manufacturer, ensures consistent grouping regardless of weather, altitude, or runway length.
Fixed-Wing Categories
Piston – Small piston-powered aircraft
Turbo Prop – Seats up to 19 passengers
Entry Level Jet (VLJ) – MTOW up to 12,000 lbs
Light Jet – 12,000–18,000 lbs
Super Light Jet – 18,000–22,000 lbs
Midsize Jet – 22,000–30,000 lbs
Super Midsize Jet – 30,000–40,000 lbs
Heavy Jet – Over 41,000 lbs
Ultra Long Range – Range over 5,000 NM
VIP Airliner – VIP-configured
Airliner – 20+ passenger seats
Helicopter Categories
Single Engine
Twin Engine
Our classification system may differ from others, but it ensures clarity, consistency, and fairness across the Avinode Marketplace. By understanding how we group aircraft, you can make more accurate searches, smarter comparisons, and better business decisions.
So you need to add a new aircraft to the platform, there are a few ways to accomplish this.
The first way is by writing into support@avinode.com or to your account manager directly and let them know what tail you need to add. We will need an AOC (or D085) with the ops specs pages where the tail number is listed. In addition you will need to provide us with the below details:
Tail Number:
Aircraft Type/Model:
Serial Number:
Manufacturing Year:
Home base:
Year of Make:
Max Range:
Max Pax:
Pax at Max Range:
Range at Max Pax:
Interior Refurbished:
Exterior Refurbished:
Is Owner Approval required: Yes/No?
Sending over this information we will then be able to add this aircraft to your account.
The other way to add an aircraft is to re-upload your certificate on your account and add the tail directly into the system. The steps for both US certificates and Europe/Middle East/Asia/Africa certificates are below!
Adding an updated/new certificate - USA
To add a new tail to your certificate you will first want to ensure the most updated D085 with that tail on it is uploaded to your account. To do so please follow the below steps:
1. Go to Company→Certificates to add a new or updated D085.
2. In the aircraft section, upload the new certificate by selecting Choose File. To expedite the verification process, please make sure to upload a PDF document with the FAA signature. Moreover, please make sure to only upload the D085 in this section.
3. Lastly, add the new aircraft by selecting add new aircraft. Enter the tail number, type, and serial number. Now select changes are on existing documents and hit save.
4. After you hit save, you will see a verification warning. Please allow up to 24 business hours for the Avinode team to verify and approve your new certificate.
Adding an updated/new certificate (AOC) - Europe, Middle East , Asia & Africa
To add a new tail to your certificate you will first want to update your own Air Operator Certificate with operation specifications, below are the steps to do so:
1. Go to the Company→Certificate.
2. You will find an overview of your current certificate. To make updates, click on the little edit button on the right side of the page.
3. Go to the AOC section and click on Browse to upload your new, updated PDF version of your full AOC and Ops specs pages.
Note: All pages with the tail numbers of your fleet must be included, make sure you include all those pages with the first page of your AOC. If an aircraft which is active in Avinode is not included in the Operation Specifications pages, it cannot remain active in Avinode, so make sure all aircraft still on your AOC are listed in the ops specs provided.
4. If you need to make amendments to your fleet, you can add aircraft in two ways. Either click on the link on the right, "Add new Aircraft," or, if you have already added it in SchedAero ie, it will be in your fleet list and you can then Select aircraft, in the Add existing aircraft section.
Add the tail number, type and serial number to your aircraft, scroll all the way to the bottom and click save.
Now, Avinode support staff will receive a notification that there is a new AOC uploaded for our review and approval. As soon as we have had a look at it and confirmed all is good, we will approve and the updates are live.
This article will show you where to go to add/edit the basic information for your aircraft(s).
1. The Avinode Aircraft→Fleet section allows you to easily add aircraft details such as Year of Make, Homebase and aircraft amenities.
2. To add or update this information click on the pencil and paper icon net to each aircraft to edit. This will open to the aircraft basics page.
3. Continue the setup process by adding your aircraft basics information. Please fill out all information under each section titled Aircraft, Set up, Aircraft Basics and Amenities.
Here is a guide on how to upload pictures of your aircraft into Avinode. Photos of your aircraft is a must to promote it to the max!
In all places in Avinode where another member can find your aircraft, they can also see the pictures of your aircraft. Make sure they are nice and up-to-date. We recommend having at least one exterior photo, one interior photo and one floor-plan photo.
To Set up your Aircraft photos:
1. Go to the tab called Aircraft→Fleet
2. To add or update this information click on the pencil and paper icon next to each aircraft to edit. This will open to the aircraft basics page.
3. Go to the photos tab and click "Add photo" on the right side of the page. Here you will be able to select the file from your computer and upload it into Avinode.
The picture cant be too small to be uploaded in Avinode, so please chose a picture that has some nice resolution. Please note, the image can only be presented in a landscape orientation.
4. In this step, you decide what kind of picture it is.
5. Where should this picture appear? Make sure it is set to "public" for the picture to appear in Avinode when ever someone finds your aircraft in the search result.
Note-Schedaero users should select SchedAero Quote PDF and SchedAero Trip Sheets.
6. In the last step before saving and completing this process, you need to crop the picture. Drag the box in any direction to crop it as you wish. Click save in the bottom of the page and you are done!
Once you are back in the overview page of all your pictures, you can drag and drop the pictures to change the order they appear in.
When buyers in the Marketplace search for aircraft they sometimes have "must have" amenities on board that they need. So it's imperative that you ensure all the amenities on board your aircraft are updating within Avinode.
Here is how you set up your amenities and highlight all the equipment you have on-board.
1. Go to the tab called Aircraft→Fleet
2. To add or update this information click on the pencil and paper icon next to each aircraft to edit. This will open to the aircraft basics page.
3. Scroll to the bottom of this page to find the Amenities section. Here you can see which amenities you have already applied. To add or edit these, click on "Update Amenities".
4. A new window will pop-up on the screen. Just tick the boxes for any of the amenities that your aircraft is equipped with. In the first section called "Most used" we list the amenities that can also be filtered on in the search result, these are regarding Lavatory, Pets, Smoking and wi-fi. These are the most important to apply if they are applicable for your aircraft.
5. After selecting all the respective amenities that are on board your aircraft click update and then Save in the bottom right hand corner and you are all set!
Need to add or update the insurance on your aircraft?
Please see below instructions on how to do just that. Please note only users with administrator permissions for the Avinode account will have access to this section.
*To avoid delaying your insurance approval, please don't forget to list your insured aircraft followings steps 1-3 below.
1. Go to Company→Insurance
2. Next, fill in the requested information and upload the insurance document in PDF format.
3. In the insured aircraft section, go through the following steps per aircraft that you are listing:
a. select the tail number from the drop-down menu
b. type in the insured amount, select the insured value from the drop down (Thousand, Million or Billion) and select the currency
c. click the Add Aircraft Button for each aircraft you are adding. We cannot approve the insurance update if you do not list your aircraft.
4. Once you are done listing your aircraft for this insurance, click on the Save Policy & Aircraft button and you have completed this process. Please allow up to 24 business hours for the Avinode team to verify and approve this update. Reach out to support@avinode.com to expedite this process for you.
Need to remove an aircraft from your certificate? Please follow the below steps to update your fleet.
For the EMEAA-region, we need a new Operations Specification (Ops Specs). A new D085 is needed when removing an aircraft from your US certificate.
Note: You will need to add the new D085/Ops Specs before removing the aircraft from the Avinode system. You will also need to email your account manager to remove this aircraft from your Avinode membership.
1. Go to Company→Certificate to add a new or updated D085/Ops Specs.
2. In the aircraft section, upload the new certificate by selecting Choose File. To expedite the verification process, please make sure to upload a PDF document with the FAA signature. Moreover, please make sure to only upload the D085/Ops Specs in this section.
D085 upload section (US-region)
Ops Specs upload section (EMEAA-region)
3. Remove each aircraft by selecting the minus tail button. Now select changes are on existing documents and hit save.
4. Press save and you have completed this process. You will see a verification warning. Please allow up to 24 business hours for the Avinode team to verify and approve your new certificate. Reach out to support@avinode.com to expedite this process for you.
Learn how to add restrictions to stop receiving charter requests for certain airports, countries or regions with the steps below.
1. Go to Aircraft → Fleet
2. To add a restrictive area, Click on "pencil and paper" to edit the tail and go under the Geography tab:
3. Under Restricted Areas, you can search per region, country or specific airports code. For example if you want to block all requests from or to Sweden, search for Sweden - country - all airports, this way you will block all airports in Sweden:
Once you have updated your Restricted area click Save and you are all set for that aircraft.
In this article you will learn how to create groups for your fleet and the benefits of having those groups.
By setting up your fleet in groups you are able to present your offer more accurately to the buyers. You will be highlighted as a Floating Fleet operator in the Search result page. Buyers will also see a range for a few items, such as the aircraft's Year of Make.
Other benefits of grouping your fleet:
Groups will enable you to easily add or delete all your tails from that group from your pricing profiles and routing profiles.
While using the groups the system will use schedule availability of that group and not per unique tail. As long as you have availability on at least one aircraft from the group for each leg, your group will show in the Avinode search results. This would ensure you will be listed in Search for all your feasible trips.
Give a name to your group, this name will be visible in Search, and select the aircraft you want to add to this group. Only aircraft of the same category can be added to one group.
Select the cover aircraft and choose which aircraft you want to display in Avinode Search.
The request/response
You will receive a request on a group while you are able to track which (unique or combined) tail(s) were used in the details.
When you reply the buyer will receive an offer on your aircraft group.
In this article you will find examples on how to be competitive by using your Zone-based positioning and your actual schedule positioning.
Comparing Zone-based vs. Schedule-based positioning
When using the “zone-based positioning” line item in your pricing profile, Avinode may automatically compare your zone-based positioning time with the actual aircraft’s position that you have in your schedule.
The setting that controls this behavior is called “Compare map positioning to adjacent schedule activity” and can be customized under Company → Settings → Pricing, within the specific zone-based position pricing option.
This extra setting ensures that your aircraft can still:
pick up a trip if you happen to have an aircraft parked in the vicinity of the requested trip,
be price-competitive on round-trip requests that have a short gap in time between the PAX legs.
Scenario 1: Your aircraft has a better scheduled position
If the “Compare map positioning to adjacent schedule activity” setting is enabled in your zone-based pricing option, Avinode will then check if your aircraft has any mandatory scheduled activities within e.g. 48 hours before and after the requested trip (e.g. a PAX flight), and apply the cheapest alternative between your zone-based positioning (that is configured in your map) and the actual scheduled positioning of the aircraft.
Example:
According to your Zone Map (see below), Avinode should normally add +10 hours of positioning time for any trip from/to the United States.
However, based on your schedule, you happen to have an aircraft located in KTEB, Teterboro as of October 1st (but a blank schedule afterwards).
You can also choose the Cheapest positioning or the Actual positioning if you'd rather avoid having to ferry too much. It's all up to you!
If a buyer searches for a “KTEB Teterboro → KMIA Miami” trip starting on October 2nd, Avinode will apply the most price-competitive offer between your schedule and your zone map. ZERO positioning will be added at departure, based on your schedule, and +10 hours will be added at arrival, based on your zone map.
Scenario 2: Buyer requests a Round-trip with little time between the PAX legs
According to the map above, if the “Compare map positioning to adjacent schedule activity” setting is enabled in your zone-based pricing option and you get a Round-trip request, Avinode will then check if there is less than X hours (e.g. 48 hours) between the requested PAX legs.
If there is less than X hours, then Avinode will NOT add any chargeable positioning during this interval (assuming you would rather consider staying put at the “intermediary” location).
Example:
The “Compare map positioning to adjacent schedule activity” setting is configured with 48 hours (which is the Avinode default setting).
If you get a “EGGW London - LEMD Madrid - EGGW London” round-trip request, with the first leg on October 15th and a return the day after, then Avinode will only apply the following positioning time (based on the below zone map example):
+3 hours at departure / before the first PAX leg (for EGGW),
+3 hours at arrival / after the second PAX leg (for EGGW)
… With NO zone-based positioning for LEMD.
In summary:
Compare map positioning to adjacent schedule activity: when using a Zone-Based pricing option in your pricing profile, for all requests that you get, Avinode will apply by default the amount of positioning time that you have defined for these airports/states/countries/regions.
However, if you allow Avinode to “compare map positioning to adjacent schedule activities”, then Avinode will compare and apply the cheapest between applying the zone-based positioning and the schedule positioning if the scheduled activity is in X (for you to determine) hours.
If you have a mandatory activity in your schedule (passenger flight or maintenance) and if this activity is within the X hours the system will take the cheapest positioning in the Search result.
Round-trip example: If you get a Round-trip request and there are <48 hours between the requested PAX legs, you probably don’t want zone-based pricing to kick in after the end of the first pax leg and before the start of the second pax leg.
Once you are done with the setup of your Zone Map, you’ll still need to add the newly-created price line item into the right pricing profile.
Step 1: Create the corresponding pricing option
While creating a new Zone Map, Avinode will offer you by default to create the corresponding pricing option under your company pricing settings.
Unique name will be the same as your Zone Map name, the flight time will be charged based on Zone Based positioning.
Step 2: Replace your current positioning line item with this new item in your Pricing Profile
After the pricing option has been created, make sure to add this new line item into the desired Pricing Profile(s) by clicking the Add line item drop down menu.
⚠️ Don't forget to also remove any other “positioning” line items that you may have had from your Pricing Profile. Please note, DO NOT delete the old positioning line item on the Price Settings page, only in the Pricing Profile.
Use your Zone-based Pricing with a “timing” factor as seasonality or non-urgent trips
If you work with seasonal and urgent pricing profiles you can use the same logic with Maps and Zone-based positioning with those timing profiles.
You can create a Zone Maps for summer or winter season with specific Zones and positioning times and, when you are done, add the right map to your summer or winter pricing profile.
Bonus resources: How to create the zone-based positioning pricing option from scratch?
Select the Zone Map that you want to use in this line item,
Finally, hit Save.
In summary:
Zone-Based Positioning: a line item you can add to your pricing profile. This line item will calculate the ferry time based on your pre-designed Zone Maps. Once you create the line item you need to add it to the relevant pricing profile.
⚠️ When you add a zone-based ferry to your pricing profile, remove your regular ferry line item, for your positioning not to be calculated twice.
In this article you'll find a step-by-step guide on why you should be using zone-based positioning for your fleet and how to set it up.
What is zone-based positioning used for?
Zone-based positioning enables you to define your own geographical areas and add an average positioning time to your trips, should you want to price your aircraft based on risk/ historical data rather than looking at the aircraft’s actual schedule location.
Your defined positioning time will be used to calculate the price of the Avinode requests you get. For example: if a zone map has both Paris and New York set up to charge 1h ferry, a trip New York → Paris would be calculated with 2 hours of Ferry, disregarding your actual schedule position.
How can I create and manage my zone-based positioning?
To complete the setup of your zone-based positioning and pricing, you’ll need to:
Create a new Map
Add and configure your Zones for this map
Replace your existing “positioning” price line item with the newly-created "zone-based positioning” item in your Pricing Profile(s).
Note: We will re-use this name by default when creating the corresponding zone-based pricing option in your Company → Settings → Pricing page:
Maps based on seasonality or timing
You can set up several maps, for example based on seasonality. Ex.. you can have one map that applies for the “summer season” and another one for winter.
You can also choose to use zone-based positioning logic for requested trips that are >X days out in the future, but have Avinode look at the actual aircraft’s schedule location for trips taking place in the coming days.
It is up to you how you wish to use the zone maps for and when, based on your specific pricing needs.
Add and configure your Zones
You can create up to 10 zones in each map. To create a new zone from a specific map, click on “Add Zone”:
Pick a color, set the positioning time you want to apply for that zone and select your geographical areas (airports, US states, countries and/or regions).
TIP! Please note that you are also able to select countries and US states directly by clicking on the map itself.
The positioning time that you enter (Ex. 30 minutes in the below example) will be applied for trips FROM and TO each of these locations:
TIP! If you have a zone that includes a state, a country or a region, and have another one that includes specific airports located in the same area (in other words, if two zones "collide" with each other), you'll need to give a priority order by dragging and dropping the zones in the right order. You can always see which zone will be used for any given region by looking at the map
How will Zone-based positioning be used in Avinode?
Here is an example of a zone based map set up in Avinode:
In the above example:
If you get a "EGGW London - LEIB Ibiza" trip request (London being part of the Yellow zone and Ibiza belonging to the Purple zone, Avinode would add a total of 1 hour 30 minutes of chargeable positioning time for that trip (i..e. 30 minutes at departure + 1 hour at arrival).
If you get a "EGGW London - UUWW Moscow" trip request (both airports belonging to the Yellow zone this time), Avinode will then add a total of 1 hour chargeable positioning time for that trip (i.e. 30 minutes at departure + 30 minutes at arrival):
In Summary
Zone Map: A map where you can control the charged ferry times from/to specific airports, states, countries and regions. When you set up a zone map, you will add the ferry time you want for departure and arrival in each zone. For example: if a zone map has both Paris and New York set up to charge 1h ferry, a trip New York → Paris will be calculated with 2 hours of Ferry, disregarding your actual schedule position.
You can create up to 10 zones in each map, and the priority order starts from the top of the list. The is no limit to how many maps you can create. We will re-use your Zone Map name when creating the corresponding “zone-based positioning” item in your pricing options.