Antom x IATA Airlines: 5 Keys to Futureproof Airline Payments and Business

By Graham Newton, Editor, Airlines, IATA

Graham has been an aviation specialist for over two decades, working as the editor of IATA’s official magazine, Airlines. and numerous other industry publications.

In Q3 2025, Antom teamed up with Airlines, the official International Air Transport Association (IATA) magazine, to conduct an in-depth survey with the air travel community to unlock the strategic value of payments.

We surveyed a total of 154 aviation ecosystem executives to better understand airlines’ strategies on payments and payment technology and their attitudes toward existing and future challenges and opportunities.

From this, we have created a whitepaper – Rising Above: 5 Keys to Futureproof Airline Payments and Business – containing five points of success to help airlines move forward. I urge you to read the whitepaper for full details, but the bigger picture is clear: there is an increasing awareness of the fundamental business transformation that changes in payment will entail.

Moreover, the whitepaper makes clear that airlines will need to collaborate on this exciting paradigm shift – from payment as a back-office function to payment as an enabler for growth.

Expert partners can guide airlines in their strategies and help them to engage with new solutions – such as e-wallets, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), and real-time payments. Airlines also need assistance from a technical standpoint to facilitate fast, convenient, and secure transactions, effectively replicating the one-click-to-buy experience found online, and to deal with the complex regulatory environment.

In short, valued partners such as Antom can orchestrate smarter, more connected payment flows for airlines that bridge the customer experience and cost efficiency.

Importantly, the whitepaper looks not only at where airlines want to go but also where they are now. It provides a practical foundation for the work ahead and the decisions airline management must make as they head toward a world of offers and orders.

The organisational transformation will require funding, for example, but every initiative must have a business case behind it and some form of return on investment. What payment methods should an airline offer in each of their markets? How do they maintain cost efficiency amid potentially diverse market requirements? And what will payment changes mean to work processes and the booking flow?

The whitepaper suggests that the most successful carriers are those that “innovate with intention” – adapting existing systems, exploiting data, and keeping ahead of the curve.

There is no doubt that payment is high on airline boardroom agendas. It is central to offering customers a personalised, efficient, and seamless experience across all channels. Through such partners as Antom, airlines expect to embrace the new payment landscape, futureproof their business, and stay lean in an increasingly competitive environment.

Download your copy of this exclusive whitepaper for the full insights.