SINGAPORE 14 June 2024: Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia’s newest airline, has signed a partnership agreement to implement CellPoint Digital’s Payment Orchestration Solution.
The partnership will see Riyadh Air provide passengers with a seamless cross-border payment experience as the airline approaches its launch date in 2025
Cellpoint Digital, a leading provider of payment solutions to the airline industry and a global pioneer of Payment Orchestration, confirmed Wednesday the new partnership with Riyadh Air that will equip the carrier with an innovative payment technology to fuel its digital-first business strategy.
The partnership supplies Riyadh Air with CellPoint Digital’s Payment Orchestration platform, enabling the carrier to efficiently process local and cross-border transactions.
Riyadh Air’s vision is to disrupt a Saudi Arabian commercial aviation market dominated by legacy players.
Based in Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh Air is set to launch commercial operations by mid-2025 and is an integral part of Saudi Arabia’s mission to establish itself as a global aviation hub. The USD30 billion start-up airline aims to connect the country to 100 regional and international destinations by 2030, leveraging the kingdom’s location between Asia, Africa and Europe and creating over 200,000 jobs.
CellPoint Digital’s Payment Orchestration platform uses intelligent routing, considering the pricing, processing and acceptance currency, and processor’s geographical location, which increases transaction success rates. In this way, Payment Orchestration minimises the number of declined transactions, preventing the customer from abandoning the booking and driving revenue for Riyadh Air.
Pact signed with Singapore Airlines
Meanwhile, Riyadh Air and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a new partnership between the two airlines.
The agreement was inked by Riyadh Air Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tony Douglas and Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong in Dubai at the 80th International Air Transport Association (IATA) AGM and World Air Transport Summit earlier this month.
Under the MoU, the carriers will explore opportunities for interline connectivity on each other’s services, subject to regulatory approval. They will also work on other potential areas of commercial cooperation, including codeshare arrangements, reciprocal benefits for their frequent flyer programme members, cargo services, customer experience, and digital innovation as a precursor to a deeper, long-term, strategic partnership.
These will offer Riyadh Air’s guests access to SIA’s network in Southeast Asia and the South West Pacific region, and SIA’s customers greater access to the Middle East region through Riyadh Air’s network.
