Despite a fairly competitive market, AirPlus had a good year in 2015. The German payment solutions specialist recorded a growth in transaction volume of 9% worldwide and in France - AirPlus' second largest market after Germany - for sales of 329 million euros in 2015, compared with 320 in 2014. "Our global expansion strategy is paying off"Patrick Diemer, Managing Director. AirPlus won 3,300 customers worldwide in 2015, including 220 in France. AirPlus has also set up operations in several emerging countries - Croatia in particular, and Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica in Latin America - which may not be as exposed as China on the economic scene, but where their key account customers have subsidiaries and can therefore benefit from these corporate solutions.
At the same time, after other European countries including, of course, Germany and France, AirPlus has launched its AIDA virtual card in Austria and Australia. This card, linked to the company's escrow account and benefiting from the worldwide acceptance of the Mastercard network, should also be available in the near future. soon available in the United States and Hong Kong. Asia-Pacific is a key continent for AirPlus' expansion strategy. In addition to China and Australia, the German company plans to establish itself in new markets such as Japan and India. As for its international development, AirPlus has also opened up its corporate card to three Eastern European markets: Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The innovations offered by the German payment solutions specialist include theAirPlus Information Manager analysis tool has been part of the reporting of additional costsAlso known as ancillary costs in professional jargon. "Airlines have changed their pricing strategies and are increasingly offering "à la carte" services." These include extra baggage and access to lounges", Patrick Diemer points out. With this integration, AirPlus is anticipating the implementation of the NDC standard (New Distribution Capabilities), promoted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which should facilitate the marketing of these additional services.
Through this development of the reporting tool, AirPlus also wants to give its customers practical means of paying these costs in advance, via their account, but also to offer them the possibility of analysing these transactions. This strengthens their negotiating power with airline suppliers. In this context, the most commonly identified additional charges are ticket modification and cancellation fees (83%), followed by the upgrade seat reservations (10%) and luggage (4%).
With digital payment set to become a hot topic in the coming years, AirPlus is also looking at new ways of making mobile payments. Pilot projects are being carried out on the digital payment for restaurants and car parks in airports.
