The Future Of Selling For Airlines And The Travel Industry

The travel industry has made a major breakthrough following  industry agreement to adopt NewGen ISS from Mar-2018, which includes amendments to IATA Resolution 890 allowing agents to pay for tickets with their own payment cards, and subsequent creation of the Transparency in Payments framework, put in place to enable airlines to gain both greater visibility over the costs of using different payment payments and greater control over payment methods accepted through the agency channel. Other than heralding efficiency improvements in processes and payments for agencies, these changes allows airlines to drive down costs by removing acceptance of high interchange payment methods, and incentivises payment providers to create low cost, innovative forms of payment. It also potentially allows airlines to build, create and establish B2C relationships, for example by working with card providers to merge data sets and gain full visibility over the value of a corporate customer’s spend. But what’s the true benefit of these changes for both agencies and airlines? This debate will unpack the implications of these industry reforms in the Australian context.

• Will the industry collaborate to make the most of these changes?
• What does TIP implementation look like in practice?
• Do suppliers have the capability to accept newer, lower cost payment methods?
• How are agents amending their payment strategies in light of IATA Resolution 890? Will there be much of a balance shift between use of traditional cards and alternative payments, or the use of agent cards over individual consumer/corporate cards, IATA easyPay?
• What is the likelihood of Australian agencies fully participating in adopting IATA Resolution 890? Are there any obvious benefits – to both the agent and the airline?
• What are the Risks for Airlines? How would risks be managed? Are the airlines willing to allow accept this new form of debt? Who is liable for unpaid debt?
• What are the opportunities for airlines to strengthen their B2C relationships and track corporate spend in the new payment landscape?
• How will these forms of payment impact NDC/One Order?

Moderator: The Initiatives Group, Managing Director, Lance Blockley
Panellists:

• AFTA, Chief Executive, Jayson Westbury
• Corporate Travel Management, Global Head of Partnerships, Scott Ward
• Mastercard, Director, Gregor Lochtie
• Paypal, Director, Head of Enterprise Business, Anthony Drury
• Travelport, Vice President Global Payment Solutions, Alexandra Fitzpatrick