Airlines can accept customer payments through the Outpayce Xchange Payments Platform following a deal struck between the Amadeus subsidiary and global aviation body.

The partners said the tie-up will support airlines to meet the demands of their customers and reduce the cost of payments as direct account-to-account customer transfers rise in popularity.

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 makes use of new account-to-account regulations developed by countries 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 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.

Juan Antonio Rodriguez, IATA director financial settlement operations, 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 of Philippine Airlines, added: “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.”

IATA is one of the first partners to connect to Outpayce’s Xchange Payment Platform using new self-service APIs, being piloted in 2024.

The addition of self-service APIs helps to open the platform, making it easier for any payments or fintech company to connect its services, which increases choice for travel companies and further optimises payment orchestration.

Jean-Christophe Lacour, senior vice president and head of product management and delivery at Outpayce, said:

“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.”