Airline Executives Cite 'Raised-on-Mobile' Travelers, Enhanced Wi-Fi and More APMs as Key Influences for Mobile Payments Strategies

Even as payment executives identify common challenges across the airline industry – including the costs, complexity and lengthy time-to-market for integrating new payment solutions – they say they are making it easier for travelers to pay from smartphones and digital devices because that's where passengers, technology, payment innovations and new revenue opportunities are leading them.

The findings are featured in Mobile Travel Payments: Airline Challenges & Opportunities available for download here. The airline brief is based on an April 2017 survey of more than 50 finance and payment executives from airlines in North America, Latin America, Europe and the UK.

According to the airlines that took part in the study, opportunities that are most influential in shaping their mobile payments strategies are:

• 48%: younger travelers who are receptive to mobile payments
• 46%: improved W-Fi connectivity during travel
• 43%: travelers' existing use of mobile payments and mobile banking services
• 41%: increased smartphone use by consumers
• 39%: availability of more APMs in key travel markets

"What airlines cannot afford to do is to do nothing," says Kristian Gjerding, CEO of CellPoint Mobile. "A mobile-first marketplace is drawing ever nearer to a tipping point. Airlines and travel companies should start deploying payment methods that are aligned with airline operations and airline customers' behaviors and needs. Enabling more APMs as they become available is a necessary step for collecting new revenues and enabling mobile payments throughout the journey, from booking and ticketing all the way to post-destination purchases."

The same airline executives identify key challenges as they deploy mobile payment capabilities to passengers' digital devices, including:

• 41%: high cost of integrating new APMs
• 30%: complexity and time involved in integrating new APMs
• 30%: outdated payment systems and technologies
• 30%: concerns about security, fraud and data breaches
• 26%: lack of executive support  

According to Statista, mobile payments will exceed $1 trillion globally by 2019.  Airlines that enable mobile payments can capture new revenues from direct-channel sales, ancillary products and services, upgrades, loyalty program transactions, last-minute and day-of-travel purchases, and post-destination products and services, Gjerding says.

Mobile Travel Payments: Airline Challenges & Opportunities can be downloaded here. The brief is one in a series of thought leadership pieces that cover mobile commerce, mobile-first strategies, payment innovation, and other airline and payment topics. Reports can be downloaded from CellPoint Mobile's resource hub. For media inquiries, please contact Sara Leiter at sleiter@thinkinkpr.com or call +1-305-749-5342 ext. 236. For more information about the airline industry brief, please contact insights@cellpointmobile.com.  

About CellPoint Mobile: 
CellPoint Mobile provides airlines and travel companies with mobile-first solutions that help them manage the end-to-end flow of interactions and profitable transactions from travelers' digital devices. Dedicated to a client-first, mobile-first culture since 2007, CellPoint Mobile and its powerful enterprise platform (PCI DSS Level 1 certified) connects airlines and travel companies to all of the solutions they need for friction-free mobile travel: booking, payments, alternative payment methods, ancillary sales, loyalty transactions, communications, stored payment capability, real-time reporting, reconciliation, connections to payment service providers (PSPs) and acquirers, and more. CellPoint Mobile operates in six locations: Miami, London, Copenhagen, Dubai, Pune and Singapore. We Make Travel Easier™ for airlines, travel companies and the world's travelers. www.cellpointmobile.com

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