The IATA Financial Settlement Systems (IFSS) continue to perform an essential service for global airlines, facilitating the movement of funds across the air travel value chain while maintaining extremely high levels of efficiency and security.
The IFSS are continually enhanced. Much was learned from reversing the flow of money to pay refunds during the pandemic, for example, and this has led to improved resilience. Areas currently under the microscope include changing customer behavior, new business models and accommodating the multitude of new entrants.
“We want to know where we need to move to in the next three-to-five years,” says Muhammad Albakri, IATA’s SVP for Financial Settlement and Distribution Services. “Where is the value in the IFSS and how should the scope be improved? It must continue to be aligned with airline needs.”
One obvious answer is accepting new forms of digital payment. The Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP), one of the IFSS services, is based on a “collect on behalf” model from the travel agencies and also processes debit and credit cards.
But airlines—responding to customer requirements—must be ready to accept many different forms of payment.
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