Airline payment costs rose to US$24.5 billion in 2025, according to new data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The figure is 10.4% higher than in 2023, while travel sales grew 7.7% over the same period to US$1.05 trillion.
On average, processing payments cost airlines US$5 per passenger. In comparison, IATA forecasts that airlines will earn a net profit of US$4.50 per passenger in 2026.
Payment fees made up the largest share at US$20.7 billion, or 84.5% of the total.
Operating costs linked to payments, such as systems, delayed cash flow, staff and compliance, added US$2.9 billion. Fraud and uncollected sales accounted for the remaining US$0.9 billion.
Cards carried the highest cost per transaction, with average fees of 2.53% compared with an overall average of 1.97%. The lowest-cost payment options came to 0.01%.
IATA’s 2025 Global Passenger Survey found that 29% of passengers prefer to pay with a digital wallet and 8% prefer a local instant payment solution.
To reduce costs, the association is exploring several measures, including IATA Pay, which lets passengers use local instant payment solutions in 34 countries.
It is also seeking greater transparency on the cost of agency cards and developing a new approach to corporate travel payments with airlines and corporate customers.
“The fact that payment transaction costs are increasing faster than industry revenues is unsustainable and, despite significant technological advances, highlights the critical need for greater cost efficiency,”
said Sandrine Le Borgne, Interim Director General and CFO at IATA.
She added that enabling more payment options could help airlines recover some of this lost revenue.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by fanjianhua via Magnific.
