Speed, efficiency and acceptability of payments are the most important factors travel agencies consider when introducing new payment methods. With new partnerships with Air France and KLM, Nium is upgrading its services to meet all requirements and offer travel agents an alternative to card transactions.
Nium, a real-time global payments company, provides travel agents with a private network of trusted UATP approved rails and bank transfers through its Nium Airline Payments Solution (NAP), reducing costs, simplifying reconciliation and accelerating payments.
NAP removes middlemen from the payment flow, giving Air France and KLM the flexibility to offer new payment methods to select travel agency partners. With NAP, Nium guarantees payment acceptance and reduces settlement times from hours to minutes or even seconds.
NAP provides a payment authorization process that benefits both airlines and travel agencies, resulting in higher conversion rates, improved operational efficiency, and increased margins. Airlines and travel agencies enter into a bilateral agreement for the use of the platform, mediated by Nium. This creates a one-to-one, “closed loop”, transparent commercial relationship between travel agencies and airlines.
Speeding up time-consuming processes
Spencer Hanlon, Global Head of Travel Payments at Nium
“For decades, the travel industry has struggled with complex, time-consuming and costly payment methods. Nium is helping travel agents and their airline and hotel partners unlock the potential of global, real-time payments to change the way money flows in the travel ecosystem for the better,” said Spencer Hanlon, global head of travel payments at Nium.
“We look forward to helping Air France and KLM resolve some of the inequities for both airlines and travel distribution intermediaries associated with outdated traditional payment models.”
John Taylor, head of airline payments at Nium
“We built NAP with the goal of creating a fairer and more sustainable model between airlines and our agency partners around the world. For airlines, payments are no longer a cost of doing business; they are a deciding factor in distribution discussions, providing greater control and alignment within indirect sales channels. We are pleased to welcome Air France and KLM to the NAP family and look forward to delivering this solution to their travel agency networks together,” added John Taylor, head of Airline Payments at Nium.
The partnership will see NAP rolled out to Air France and KLM’s travel agency networks across Europe, starting with Italy and adding more markets in the future.
