Open Banking Comes to Aviation: IATA and Outpayce Help Airlines Accept Account-to-Account Payments
Recent regulations in many markets make it possible for merchants to accept payment from consumers using direct, account-to-account transfers. As airlines seek to best meet the needs of travelers and reduce the overall cost of payments, account-to-account payments are becoming very popular, and they represent a new option for travelers to pay for air tickets.
That’s why IATA and Outpayce are partnering so airlines can now accept payments made with IATA Pay through Outpayce’s Xchange Payments Platform (XPP).
IATA Pay is an alternative account-to-account form of payment for travelers to pay for air tickets purchased online by directly debiting their bank account. It leverages the new account-to-account rails and regulations developed by countries around the world such as India (UPI), the Netherlands (Ideal), Brazil (PIX) or Philippines (QR Ph). Currently available in over 30 countries, IATA Pay improves the speed and security of payments, while reducing payment acceptance costs.
When a traveler reaches checkout on an airline’s website the new account-to-account payment service allows them to select their bank or scan a QR code depending on the country. IATA uses the payment and bank details or the QR code’s approval to request a transfer from the passenger’s account and the funds are transferred using the banking rails. IATA settles the funds with the airline the following day.
Juan Antonio Rodriguez, Director Financial Settlement Operations, IATA said: “The trend towards account-to-account payments is gaining more momentum. It provides a seamless experience for passengers and provides an attractive option for airlines to lower the cost of payment acceptance. Through Outpayce, airlines using XPP can begin to accept IATA Pay while still benefiting from XPP’s powerful orchestration, analytics and reporting capabilities.”
Anna Isabel Bengzon, Chief Financial Officer, Philippine Airlines said: “We are pleased to now accept IATA Pay in the Philippines. It will provide our passengers a more convenient and secure way of paying via QR code using their digital wallets, which is highly prevalent in the country, or through their bank accounts. Outpayce’s XPP system helps us to intelligently accept a wide range of payment methods used by travelers across the international markets we serve. Moreover, we can access various payment methods and partners through XPP, with detailed analytics on the performance of payment flows and back-end reconciliation support.”
Jean-Christophe Lacour, SVP and Head of Product Management & Delivery, Outpayce added: “We’re committed to helping travel companies accept the widest possible range of payment methods through a single connection to XPP and IATA Pay represents an interesting new option for the industry. By making it easier for partners to connect to XPP using self-service APIs we intend to broaden this choice even further.”
IATA is one of the first partners to connect to Outpayce’s Xchange Payment Platform using its new self-service APIs, being piloted in 2024. The addition of self-service APIs helps to open XPP, making it easier for any payments or fintech company to connect its services, which increases choice for travel companies and further optimizes payment orchestration.