New IATA Pay tech success

THE International Air Transport Association has announced the first successful “IATA Pay” ticket purchase transaction in a live environment, with the booking conducted in partnership with UK-based finance technology provider ipagoo.

IATA Pay is being created to offer a new payment option for consumers when buying tickets directly from airline websites, operating by taking payments from the customer’s bank account straight into the account of the merchant.

The system has been enabled by new regulations in Europe and the UK which encourage transactions of this type, offering very high levels of security and the ability to be instantaneous.

For airlines IATA Pay is a cheaper payment option compared to other alternatives, provides faster cashflow and offers a simpler process, resulting in less lost sales.

“Today’s consumers, and especially millennials, have expectations of multiple payment options including mobile and peer-to-peer,” said IATA Senior VP of Financial and Distribution Services, Aleksander Popovich.

“IATA Pay responds to these expectations; at the same time airlines are trying to manage significant card payment costs - $8 billion per year and rising.

“A large part of this cost is incurred in direct purchases from airline websites,” he said.

IATA has confirmed it is also now working with Deutsche Bank on a similar prototype for Europe (excluding the UK), and following testing in early 2019 the intention is to expand the concept to other regions.