UATP

UATP

UATP Growing Transactions, Regions, Spend Categories

UATP

Advancing Travel Payment

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Ralph Kaiser, President,
CEO and Chairman, UATP

UATP CEO and Chairman Ralph Kaiser explained how the low-cost payment network, privately owned by the world’s airlines and processing more than $14 billion per year, has enjoyed double-digit transaction growth year over year in recent years, and what’s next.

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What are the top reasons why global procurement managers use UATP as their payment solution

It’s about cost-control and reporting. The difference between our product and ones that reward the traveler is that UATP is a reporting tool, a cost-containment tool that ensures people follow policy. If a traveler is going on a trip and the account is lodged with the travel manager or the corporation’s travel management company, the purchase of that flight is always going to be within policy.  UATP provides Level 3 data, directly from airlines, to the billing statement. Not only does that provide corporations with data needed across the organization, but it also helps both airlines and corporations measure performance of their corporate deals. It’s a data-rich information product and it allows airlines to reward corporate customers in ways that other card brands can’t. TMC fees tied to a ticket also can process on UATP to ease reconciliation, especially for organizations that charge travel costs to clients. Our reporting tools, DataMine® and DataStream®, help corporations reconcile charges even when one account is used for tens or hundreds of travelers. 

What corporate accounts like about UATP: 

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Simpler reimbursement procedures, better employee satisfaction, financial and labor savings, avoiding pre-payment before travel, as well as the transparency and better discounts from airlines through monthly billing.”

— CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES’ CAO HUIHUI,  KEY ACCOUNT MANAGER

How are you working to increase utilization beyond air, rail and TMC?

We leapfrogged the traditional space and now have a virtual card product in cooperation with WEX Travel called PAXVIA allowing corporate accounts to charge non-air, chiefly hotel and rental car, via virtual account numbers on the MasterCard network. We announced Delta Air Lines as our first Issuer and others are in the pipeline.  While WEX is our first payment partner, it’s not exclusive; we’re willing to work with any virtual card provider in the market.

How is UATP growing with new issuers or regions?

This year we signed our third airline Issuer in China, Sichuan Airlines, which just added initial accounts.  We now have four Issuers in China: China Eastern, Shandong and Sichuan airlines, as well as AirPlus International working in cooperation with Air China. All Chinese carriers accept UATP as a form of payment.
India is our next target market, where we’d like to repeat that model. We’re making good progress, but as you can imagine, opening these new markets is both time consuming and exciting. Another market we’d like to grow is Africa. In Latin America, Aeromexico and GOL are Issuers; obviously, we have all carriers as merchants. But we’re also talking to several other carriers there about issuing. By year-end, we expect to announce one or two new Issuers in Latin America.

What other growth trends are you seeing?

Alternative payments processed on the UATP Network are growing rapidly, 30% year-over year. Last November, we launched a new tool called Ceptor® that can connect any airline to any form of payment in any market globally. Alternative payments brands are usually less expensive for airlines to accept, but each operates in different ways. With Ceptor, we allow airlines to easily accept any alternative form of payment and simply process it on the backend through its UATP connection. We’re the bridge between “old world” and “new world” payment for airlines.

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Our business travelers favor the simplicity of handling their travel expenses through the program and the value of a comprehensive payment solution.”
— JAPAN AIRLINES’ TAKAAKI AOKI, DIRECTOR, CORPORATE SALES STRATEGY & PROMOTION

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Air New Zealand offers the Air New Zealand Travelcard in the New Zealand market.  The card offers our corporate customers complete control with an easy way to view all travel spend and savings on one invoice, the convenience of a consolidated report cutting down on often time-consuming reconciliations, and flexibility to make travel bookings – whether it be directly through Air New Zealand, through a preferred travel provider or via other external websites.”

~ AIR NEW ZEALAND’S LEANNE GERAGHTY, REGIONAL GENERAL MANAGER DISTRIBUTION AND CORPORATE SALES

Learn more about UATP at uatp.com/

UATP is the airline-owned global payment solution accepted by thousands of merchants for air, rail, and travel agency payments. 

UATP provides corporations with robust, global payment, reconciliation and reporting tools designed to not only lower payment costs for airlines but help them expand corporate market share, loyalty and sales. Issued by airlines around the globe, UATP’s Corporate Charge Card enables: 

  • Corporations to use traditional plastic cards, centralized accounts and virtual options to track travel costs, itinerary-level data, rebates, special fares and incentives, all while strengthening relationships with preferred airline partners.
  • Issuers to boost revenue, market share and customer loyalty, all while decreasing payment distribution costs and fraud.
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