Recently updated on November 15th, 2023 at 10:39 pm
As part of IATA’s efforts to continuously improve our financial services, and in support of Focus Africa objectives, IATA is pleased to announce that the IATA EasyPay service was launched in the following markets in Africa: Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Congo and Mauritius, serving all IATA Accredited Agents and Billing Settlement Plan (BSP) Participating Airlines effective August 30th, 2023.
IATA’s Focus Africa initiative aims to maximize the contribution of aviation to development across the African Continent by better serving passengers and shippers. Under Focus Africa, private and public stakeholders are committed to delivering measurable improvements in six critical areas – safety, infrastructure, connectivity, finance and distribution, sustainability, and skills development. Under the focus area for finance and distribution, the initiative aims to accelerate the implementation of secure, effective and cost-efficient financial services and adoption of modern retailing standards.
IATA EasyPay (IEP) is an optional pay-as-you-go solution for travel agents, a simpler and more secure method for transacting with airlines through the BSP. IATA EasyPay is a closed-loop electronic payment solution that is voluntary, secure, fast, flexible, and free of charge. It provides more flexibility and choice for Accredited Travel agents to manage their business challenges.
For participating Airlines and IATA Accredited Agents, the advantages of IATA EasyPay are:
- Voluntary – This new payment method will become available to all IATA accredited agents, but it will be up to each agent to decide whether or not to use it. It is not intended to replace existing payment methods in the BSP.
- Secure – To use IATA EasyPay, IATA Accredited agents must fund their IATA EasyPay account. At the time of ticket issuance, the IATA EasyPay system will first verify that funds are available in the account. If yes, the system will generate an authorization and the related funds will be blocked. For airlines there is no risk of chargebacks. Agents will nonetheless be able to void and refund their IATA EasyPay transactions as per usual through the BSP.
- Fast – IATA settles IATA EasyPay amounts to the airlines on a daily basis, using the existing BSP processes, with monies reaching the airlines 48 to 96 hours following ticket issuance.
- Economical – With a low cost per transaction, IATA EasyPay is more cost effective for airlines than credit card transactions.
- Flexible – As a secure form of payment, IATA EasyPay transactions are not part of an Agent’s cash sales at risk. This allows Agents a means to lower their financial security amounts with IATA, and to issue transactions which are not included in their cash issuance capacity.
IATA EasyPay service is now available in 27 countries across Africa. IATA continues to work with various authorities with the aim to expand to the remaining markets in Africa, in support of Africa’s aviation industry and the modernization of financial services and solutions.
