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Flutterwave is partnering with IATA to facilitate flight payments in sub-Saharan Africa

Flutterwave has joined International Air Transport Association's payment orchestration platform to enable global airlines to collect local currencies.

Flutterwave is partnering with IATA to facilitate flight payments in sub-Saharan Africa
Some members of Flutterwave and IATA team

Pan-African fintech Flutterwave is now on the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) payment orchestration platform. With this integration, airlines across the world are able to process payment from customers through cards, bank transfer, mobile money, alternative payment methods and other payment modes available on Flutterwave.

IATA Financial Gateway (IFG) is an omni-channel payment orchestration and management platform fully dedicated to the airline industry and has been designed to allow airlines to receive local payments from local markets through all their distribution channels.

Muhammad Albakri, IATA’s Senior VP, Financial Settlement and Distribution Services, said: “The IATA Financial Gateway supports the availability of new payment options in many markets. We welcome Flutterwave’s participation to bring secure and innovative payment methods to airlines, travel resellers and the traveling public in Africa.”

IATA has some 290 international airlines; this partnership enables them to easily expand their operations in Africa while receiving bookings and payments from customers in Africa using local and international payments methods.

“According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Africa is set to become one of the fastest growing aviation regions in the next 20 years with an annual expansion of nearly 5%,” Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, Flutterwave CEO & Founder, said in a statement shared with Bendada.com. “How can we further accelerate this growth? One way is to ensure airlines can easily set up operations across the continent and seamlessly receive payments from their customers.”

Airlines and travel agencies can use Flutterwave via IFG to accept many forms of payment from customers when booking airline tickets. Instead of having to manage multiple complex connections to payment service providers in Africa, IFG offers a single global connection, with full end-to-end control on payment and settlement processes and seamless integration with ticketing systems and distribution channels.

Global airlines looking to collect local currencies through cards and indigenous methods of payments will find this integration useful, as it makes payments seamless for their millions of customers in Africa and other markets where Flutterwave operates.

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For context, Last year, the Nigerian government said it will sanction airlines selling flight tickets in foreign currency. “Refusing to sell tickets in Naira...We will not allow it, all violators will be sanctioned,” former Nigeria’s aviation minister Hadi Sirika said.

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