The air courier company AirNet Systems Inc. reported a steep drop Tuesday in volume of paper check deliveries during the third quarter as more banks shifted to image exchange systems.
The Columbus, Ohio, company said that revenue in its bank services unit fell 5% from the year earlier, to $27.6 million. The decline was offset by a gain in charter operations, and the company reported overall revenue of $43 million, roughly flat with $42.8 million a year earlier. AirNet also took a $24.6 million asset-impairment charge for uncertainties about its bank operations, which contributed to a net loss of $20.5 million for the quarter. A year earlier it reported an $11.9 million net loss.
AirNet said the volume of checks it delivered in the year's first three quarters was down 11% from the year earlier.
Bert Ely, an independent consultant in Alexandria, Va., said that banks are sending more checks over electronic exchange networks instead of by air. "It appears that check imaging is really beginning to impact paper-check processing volumes; that trend can only accelerate," he wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.
