Outpayce from Amadeus has launched a new payments marketplace specifically designed for the travel industry, offering a connection between airlines and a multitude of payments companies and fintechs around the globe.
The platform, known as Outpayce Xchange Payments Platform (XPP), provides airlines with a catalogue of capabilities from varied payment partners. This allows airlines to strategically select those partners that align with their specific payment strategies and operational needs.
Jean-Christophe Lacour, SVP and Global Head of Product Management and Delivery at Outpayce, stated, "An airline might need to begin accepting several alternative payment methods to support new route expansion across a region. With our marketplace catalog it's easy to identify partners across those markets, using live transaction data from our platform to further assess the relevance of each prospective partner. If a partner is already supporting millions of travel-specific transactions in a region it builds confidence and helps travel companies move faster."
The marketplace intends to address the complexities surrounding high-value, cross-border transactions typical in the travel sector. Such capabilities are essential as different parts of the payment strategy often require distinct solutions, making vendor lock-ins potentially disadvantageous.
Maria Neamoniti, Passenger Services System Manager at AEGEAN, commented on their involvement with the new platform, "Being part of the creation of the Marketplace Catalog has been a great experience for AEGEAN. Using the tool, we were able to easily find and compare payment connections, making it much simpler to choose the right options for new markets and different needs. This will help us improve how our payments work and bring new payment options to our passengers faster, making their travel experience even better."
The Outpayce payments marketplace enables airlines not only to evaluate, but also contract and integrate new capabilities more seamlessly into their existing systems, thus enhancing the speed at which payment innovations can be adopted.
Outpayce has aimed to facilitate the onboarding process for payment companies with the introduction of new APIs that promise to reduce integration timelines by tenfold. Consequently, airlines can rapidly expand their array of payment options to meet both customer and market demands.
Initially available to Outpayce's airline customers, the marketplace currently features hundreds of payment partners worldwide. The company has plans to further extend the number of partners, services, and products covered in the months ahead.
The introduction of this travel-focused payments marketplace signifies a major enhancement to Outpayce's commitment to fostering a distinctly open payments platform tailored for the travel industry. The approach aims to promote innovation in payments processing and strategy, providing opportunities for fintechs to engage with the sector.
