SINGAPORE, 6 September 2024: Philippine Airlines becomes the first carrier to implement IATA Pay through Outpayce’s Xchange Payment Platform.
Recent market regulations allow merchants to accept consumer payments using direct, account-to-account transfers.
As airlines seek to meet travellers’ needs best and reduce the overall cost of payments, account-to-account payments are becoming more popular. They represent a new option for travellers 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 travellers 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 the 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 traveller 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.
IATA Director Financial Settlement Operations Juan Antonio Rodriguez 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.”
Philippine Airlines Chief Financial Officer Anna Isabel Bengzon said: “We are pleased to accept IATA Pay in the Philippines. It will provide our passengers with 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 travellers 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.”
