Airlines Spent $24.5bn Processing Passenger Payments in 2025 – IATA | By David Kwakutse
The global airline industry incurred a staggering $24.5 billion in costs processing passenger payments in 2025, highlighting the growing financial burden of payment transactions on an industry already operating on tight profit margins.
New data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) shows that airlines spent $24.5 billion processing $1.05 trillion in ticket and other sales in 2025, representing a 10.4 per cent increase in payment-related costs compared with 2023.
The increase significantly outpaced the growth in airline sales over the same period. Global airline sales rose by 7.7 per cent, from $977 billion in 2023 to $1.05 trillion in 2025, suggesting that the cost of collecting passenger payments is becoming an increasingly expensive component of airline operations.
The figures underscore the financial pressure airlines face from payment service providers, card transaction fees, fraud, compliance requirements and the operational systems needed to process payments across multiple markets.
Of the $24.5 billion spent in 2025, direct payment fees accounted for the largest share, reaching $20.7 billion, or 84.5 per cent of the total.
A further $2.9 billion, representing 11.8 per cent, went towards airline operating costs associated with payment processing. These included payment systems, delayed cash flows, staffing and compliance-related expenses.
Airlines also lost approximately $900 million, or 3.7 per cent of total payment costs, to fraud and uncollected sales.
Card payments emerged as the most expensive payment option, attracting average transaction fees of 2.53 per cent, compared with the estimated overall average of 1.97 per cent. Some of the lowest-cost payment alternatives, however, carried fees of just 0.01 per cent.
The growing cost burden has prompted IATA to call for greater efficiency in airline payment systems, particularly through the adoption of alternative payment methods that reduce transaction fees.
According to IATA’s 2025 Global Passenger Survey, 29 per cent of passengers prefer digital wallets, while eight per cent favour local instant payment solutions.
To respond to these changing preferences, IATA is promoting solutions such as IATA Pay and the IATA Financial Gateway (IFG).
IATA Pay enables passengers to purchase travel using local instant payment solutions and has been rolled out in 34 countries, covering 38 payment schemes.
The IFG platform, meanwhile, allows airlines and travel suppliers to manage, optimise and control payments across multiple sales channels in more than 170 countries, supporting over 300 payment methods.
IATA is also pursuing greater transparency in agency card payments through its Transparency in Payments solution, which enables airlines to establish payment policies within the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP). This allows airlines to make informed decisions about accepting agency cards or adopting lower-cost alternatives such as IATA EASY PAY.
Commenting on the findings, IATA Interim Director General and Chief Financial Officer Sandrine Le Borgne said payment transaction costs were increasing faster than industry revenues, a trend she described as unsustainable.
“The airline industry is hyper competitive, capital intensive and famously low margin. In such an environment every cost item needs to be looked at carefully. 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,” She said.
The data presents a growing challenge for airlines globally, as the industry seeks to protect profitability while accommodating passengers’ changing payment preferences and expanding digital commerce.
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