Paysafe integrates with IATA Financial Gateway to give airlines a greater payments choice

By Joy Dumasia

Paysafe, a leading specialised payments platform, announced a new payments partnership with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade association of the world’s airlines. Global airlines and travel suppliers will be able to benefit from Paysafe’s comprehensive travel payments solution through its integration with the IATA Financial Gateway (IFG), the Association’s omnichannel payment and orchestration platform.

Scheduled to complete in the next few weeks, Paysafe’s integration will serve to support the IFG’s core purpose of diversifying the range of payment methods available to airlines and travel suppliers and the passengers they serve and maximising payment acceptance and passenger revenue. Paysafe’s 20-year experience in card-not-present payment processing and alternative payment methods (APMs) will provide a robust payment solution to IATA’s 290 airline members and hundreds of non-member airlines throughout all sales channels and retail touchpoints on the passenger journey.

Air travellers wanting to pay for flight tickets, excess baggage fees, in-flight services, car rentals or hotel stays, among other payment needs, will be able to select Paysafe for frictionless online credit and debit card payments with the transaction process seamlessly via Paysafe’s payment gateway. The global reach of IATA’s airline members and travel suppliers will be supported by Paysafe’s ability to accept payments in 144 currencies and settle in 16 like-for-like currencies besides the U.S. dollar.

Paulette Rowe, CEO of Integrated and Ecommerce Solutions at Paysafe, said: “We’re delighted to integrate our travel payments solution with the IATA Financial Gateway. Air travel has never been more global, with passengers’ retail needs as diverse as their payment preferences. Our solution will provide IATA members with true payments choice at every step in the customer journey, ensuring they optimise passenger revenue to support their businesses’ overall growth against the tailwinds of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”

Muhammad Albakri, IATA’s Senior VP, Financial Settlement and Distribution Services, said: “The IATA Financial Gateway supports the availability of new payment options in many markets. We welcome the partnership with Paysafe to bring secure and innovative alternative payment methods to airlines, travel resellers and the travelling public.”

IBS Intelligence reported that Paysafe, a leading specialised payments platform announced that it had completed its market-leading German FinTech company, viafintech.