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Planet Payment brings UnionPay to airlines via UATP
Sunday, 05 Oct, 2016
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Airline payment solution platform Universal Air Travel Plan, Inc (UATP) has forged a partnership with New York based payment processor Planet Payment, offering airline merchants additional payment options.
For global airlines, it is potentially a major coup as the Planet Payment partnership will help smooth the way for acceptance of UnionPay debit cards in the all-important China market.
"Planet Payment’s international payment platform will allow airline merchants to gain greater access to critical markets, such as China, where outbound travel spend is expected to reach $255.4 billion by 2025. Solving a significant barrier to accepting the most widely issued card in the world, we will be able to provide a way to elegantly accept UnionPay Debit cards by the end of 2016," said Paul Levine, SVP, Planet Payment.
Planet Payment’s UnionPay adoption bypasses the time consuming customer re-direct and instead creates an unique passcode for each transaction sent via SMS, adding an extra layer of security.
"Adding Planet Payment to the network is a big win for our airlines. The partnership will greatly boost the number of AFPs that they have access to with no additional work on their end. The airlines will be able to quickly connect to AFPs without having to worry about connectivity or system changes," said Ralph Kaiser, CEO of UATP.
In addition to UnionPay, the partnership gives UATP more than 300 local and alternative payment options around the world.
The UATP network is owned and operated by the world’s airlines and is accepted by thousands of merchants for air, rail and travel agency payments.
UATP connects airlines to local and alternative forms of payment worldwide.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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