Sky-high payments costs

Airlines lose $20 billion annually—3 percent of their annual revenue—in costs related to payments from airline booking transactions, largely due to the high use of credit cards. A recent report by McKinsey partner Riccardo Boin and coauthors highlights how innovation in payments could help airlines to improve customer experience, grow an additional $14 billion in value, and decrease costs.

Payments could create an additional $14 billion in value, while achieving the full potential of $40 billion from airline retailing.

To read the report, see “Airline retailing: How payment innovation can improve the bottom line,” September 9, 2022.