71% of carriers acknowledge the impact of mobile in airline payments –report

According to WorldPay’s Alternative Payment and Distribution Landscape: Airline Distribution Channels report, airlines will increase their focus on new distribution channels such as mobile and social media over the next two years.

WorldPay, a global leader in payment processing, risk and alternative payments, surveyed 68 global carriers (from low cost to traditional), and found that 83% of airlines believe that improvement and deployment of new payment technology is a major business priority.

71% of respondents say the future of airline payments lies in mobile – 50% see mobile payments as a way to keep up with competitors and 45% see them as a way to increase revenues.

Over the next two years, airlines are set to bring to existing mobile services ancillary purchases such as seat upgrades, booking management, onward travel and inflight purchases via mobile phones.

Additionally, the report reveals that many carriers already have a presence on social media sites and, over the next two years airlines will increase usage on these sites. Social media is now also seen as a high potential sales channel, with nearly a third of airlines planning to enable sales via social media in the next 12 months.

Cards are still the most popular payment method used by passengers to pay for goods and services on-board, but alternative payment methods are growing in popularity. The number of airlines offering on-board mobile payments will increase from 5% to 36% in the next two years, and 18% of airlines plan to accept e-wallets on-board by 2016.

Finally, the research reveals that 40% of airlines believe self-service kiosks will be less important in the future. In fact, just 17% of airlines are investing more in developing kiosk services, whereas 29% are investing more in mobile services.