- Growth-focused South American airline Viva Air is set to accept Google Pay, Apple Pay and more
- The move marks a regional first for the airline, which is aiming to serve 60 million passengers by 2022
- “We love working with an agile technology partner that has enabled the fast and painless integration of new payment methods within our existing environment”, says spokesperson
A major airline serving South America is set to offer a mobile payments solution thanks to a partnership with a digital commerce leader.
Viva Air, which is a small company serving over 15 destinations including Latin American countries like Peru, will now partner with CellPoint Mobile.
With these changes, it is now possible to conduct an online money transfer to pay for tickets via mobile – and a variety of payment methods will now be accepted. These include Apple Pay, MasterPass and Google Pay.
As a result of the changes in its cross-border payments policy, Viva Air will become the first airline in the region to provide the two services from Google and Apple.
CellPoint Mobile will also work alongside the existing payment company at Viva Air, Ingenico, to implement the changes to the system.
Kevin Weber, Chief Projects Officer at Viva Air, said that it was an example of the firm “innovating quickly”.
"As Colombia's first low-cost airline, we want to lead the air travel experience in Latin America by innovating quickly while keeping costs low for our customers", he said.
”Launching these leading digital payment methods is imperative for us to better serve our customers as 65% of our users search for their travel options on mobile devices.
“We're thrilled to be the first airline in the region to support Apple Pay and Google Pay, and we love working with an agile technology partner that has enabled the fast and painless integration of new payment methods within our existing environment.”
One of the reasons that Viva Air partnered with CellPoint Mobile was because its payments system was designed to allow many alternative forms of payment (or AFP). It can be customised to allow a firm’s preferred payment channels to be used.
This is considered crucial in commercial environments where different forms of consumer access or different currencies need to be employed.
"Matching commerce to evolving market needs, along with speed to deliver is critical to compete in both the Americas and in the global airline sector”, said Howard Blankenship, CellPoint Mobile's VP of Airlines, Americas.
“We look forward to supporting Viva Air's digital and mobile channel needs as it continues to grow."
The development represents a key milestone for Viva Air, which is intending to serve 60 million passengers by the year 2022.
It is estimated that as many as two-fifths of South American airline travellers purchase their tickets via mobile.
To learn more about the world of cross-border payments and how companies are responding to changing consumer demand, visit our magazine page.
