UAE-based TPConnects has marked another industry milestone, becoming the first travel technology specialist to partner with a major international airline to provide IATA Pay services in India using the NDC (New Distribution Capability) Platform.
The IATA Pay service provides sales agents in India with a new payment option to purchase tickets, ancillary products and services through the airline’s NDC channel.
Oman Air’s Senior Vice President-Revenue, Retail & Cargo, Umesh Chhiber, comments: “Oman Air is extremely delighted to be the first airline to have implemented the IATA Pay payment option on our NDC channel. IATA Pay is a highly secured, real-time bank transfer payment facilitated by IATA. This alternative payment option will allow our industry partners in India to purchase Oman Air tickets and ancillaries in a highly secured manner. We are closely working with IATA to activate IATA Pay in other countries globally in the very near future.”
In the case of Oman Air’s NDC platform, the service leverages Unified Payment Interface (UPI), India’s local instant collection system. The solution supports both UPl & QRcode scanning and Virtual Payment Address (VP/I) forms of payment. The platform is designed to improve the speed and security of digital payments while reducing payment costs.
According to IATA, the technology provides airline partners with a range of benefits, such as settlements within 24 hours, reconciliation and refund management and access to an administrator portal. IATA Pay will be live in Germany, UK, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, India, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
“TPConnects is proud to partner with Oman Air to help launch IATA Pay services on the airline’s NDC channel in India, said TPConnects CEO Rakshit Desai. “The rollout of this revolutionary payment platform will provide Oman Air with a distinct advantage in one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing commercial aviation markets.”
“The successful integration of the technology also demonstrates TPConnects’ capabilities in this highly competitive marketplace,” Desai adds.
India-based sales agents who use this new service will be provided with a range of benefits, including no additional costs, the ability to cancel transactions and issue real-time refunds. Payments can also be made across all mobile devices.
IATA Pay is the latest innovation based on IATA’s NDC standard, developed in conjunction with airlines, travel management companies (TMCs), online travel agencies (OTAs), GDS developers and other technology players to support next generation of B2B travel transactions.
According to IATA, the NDC standard is designed to enable the travel industry to transform the way air products are retailed to leisure travelers and corporate clients by addressing the industry’s current distribution limitations and enhancing communications between airlines and travel agents.
