dLocal has partnered with Alternative Airlines to introduce BNPL options for flight bookings in emerging markets.
The integration connects Alternative Airlines to BNPL Fuse, dLocal's solution combining local BNPL providers into a single integration, giving travellers access to instalment payments when booking flights and travel packages.
Addressing a gap in credit card access
Airfares and travel packages represent high-value purchases for which instalment payment options are particularly relevant. In Brazil, splitting purchases into monthly payments, a practice known locally as parcelado, already accounts for more than half of all credit card spending. Across emerging markets more broadly, however, only around 10-15% of consumers hold a credit card, according to World Bank data. This means the travellers most likely to benefit from spreading out a fare are often those without a card that supports it. In addition, for an online travel agency operating across multiple countries, closing this gap through individual arrangements with local lenders is resource-intensive and difficult to scale.
With this in mind, through BNPL Fuse, Alternative Airlines now offers Addi and Pagaleve, BNPL providers operating in Colombia and Brazil respectively, via a single API integration and contract. Under the arrangement, travellers can spread the cost of a flight or travel package over time, while Alternative Airlines receives full payment upfront and does not carry payment risk. Moreover, the integration also gives Alternative Airlines access to BNPL Fuse's wider network, which currently spans eight countries and reaches more than 500 million potential buyers, with additional markets and local providers planned.
Expansion plans
dLocal and Alternative Airlines intend to extend the partnership into Chile, Pakistan, and countries across Asia and Africa, where instalment payment habits are already established among consumers. According to the companies, outbound travel demand in these markets is growing faster than credit card penetration, a mismatch that BNPL Fuse is intended to address.
Sam Argyle, Managing Director at Alternative Airlines, said the arrangement allows the company to extend payment flexibility to markets where credit cards have not traditionally featured in travel purchasing decisions, without having to build individual relationships with local lenders. In addition, Clarice Leaman, Alternative Payments Operations Lead at dLocal, said travel represents a relevant use case for BNPL in emerging markets due to the scale and complexity of the purchase decision, adding that the aim is to replicate this approach for Alternative Airlines across the markets it serves.
The partnership follows a broader trend of travel providers in emerging markets seeking to offer instalment payment options as a way of addressing limited credit card penetration among consumers with growing outbound travel demand.
