diff --git a/.changeset/fix-operation-channel-payload-1099.md b/.changeset/fix-operation-channel-payload-1099.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c755caa6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fix-operation-channel-payload-1099.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+"@asyncapi/parser": patch
+---
+
+fix(parser): trigger custom parsers on operation.channel.messages.*.payload and headers
+
+When a v3 AsyncAPI operation references its channel via `$ref` to an external file,
+the messages and their payload/headers reach the parser through the path
+`$.operations.*.channel.messages.*.payload` (or `headers`). This path was missing
+from `customSchemasPathsV3`, so non-default schema parsers were silently skipped for
+these schemas, causing downstream tools such as `@asyncapi/react-component` to fail
+to render them.
diff --git a/packages/parser/src/custom-operations/parse-schema.ts b/packages/parser/src/custom-operations/parse-schema.ts
index d33c017b4..13020647a 100644
--- a/packages/parser/src/custom-operations/parse-schema.ts
+++ b/packages/parser/src/custom-operations/parse-schema.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,11 @@ const customSchemasPathsV3 = [
   '$.operations.*.messages.*.headers',
   '$.components.operations.*.messages.*.payload',
   '$.components.operations.*.messages.*.headers',
+  // operations -> channel (which may $ref an external file) -> messages
+  '$.operations.*.channel.messages.*.payload',
+  '$.operations.*.channel.messages.*.headers',
+  '$.components.operations.*.channel.messages.*.payload',
+  '$.components.operations.*.channel.messages.*.headers',
   // messages
   '$.components.messages.*.payload',
   '$.components.messages.*.headers.*',