IATA Discloses Rising Airline Payment Costs
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Reported on October 28, 2026, IATA data showed that airlines’ payment costs rose to $24.5 billion in 2025, up 10.4% from 2023; during the same period, travel sales grew 7.7% to reach $1.05 trillion. Payment processing fees totaled $20.7 billion, with the average fee rate for card transactions at 2.53%, higher than the overall average rate of 1.97% for airline payments. To reduce costs, IATA is exploring ways to optimize payments through solutions such as IATA Pay. IATA Pay currently supports local real-time payment schemes in 34 countries. An IATA survey also showed that 29% of passengers prefer digital wallets, while 8% prefer local real-time payment schemes.
AI-written from reports · updated 1 hour ago
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- Fintech News SwitzerlandIATA: Airlines’ payment costs rise to US$24.5B in 2025
IATA data shows that airlines’ payment costs rose to US$24.5B in 2025, up 10.4% from 2023, while travel sales grew 7.7% over the same period to US$1.05T. Payment processing fees accounted for US$20.7B of total costs, with the average fee rate for card transactions at 2.53%, above the overall average of 1.97%. IATA is exploring ways to reduce costs through services such as IATA Pay, which supports local real-time payment solutions in 34 countries; its survey found that 29% of passengers prefer digital wallets and 8% prefer local real-time payment solutions.
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