Flutterwave is pleased to announce that The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has partnered with them to provide airlines with the ability to handle payments from local markets in Africa through a variety of channels.
This can help solve the problem of slow fund repatriation, which occurs when airplane tickets are purchased in local currencies in Africa.
The payment system developed by the fintech business Flutterwave has been incorporated into the IATA Financial Gateway (IFG), which is operated by the International Air Transport Association.
The IFG is a payment platform that was developed especially for the purpose of allowing international airlines and travel agencies to process payments from local markets via a variety of distribution channels.
Flutterwave has now established itself as one of these channels, which will make it possible for people in Africa to pay for their airline costs in their own currencies using cards, bank transfers, mobile money, and other alternative payment methods and payment modes that are available on Flutterwave.
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A little over a year ago, airlines in Nigeria began banning travel agencies and selling tickets straight to clients in dollars rather than the nation’s currency.
This practice continued for nearly the whole year. This was due to the fact that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was taking an excessively long amount of time to deliver the dollar equivalent of tickets that were purchased in naira.
Because of this relationship with Flutterwave, airlines are now able to exert complete authority over the entire payment and settlement process, from the point where it begins to where it ends.
The burden of delaying the repatriation of accumulated funds from aircraft tickets sold in local African currencies can be alleviated thanks to this Flutterwave integration, which can be used to save money. This relationship with Flutterwave will prove extremely beneficial to international airlines and travel firms that are interested in collecting local currencies via cards and other native ways of payment.
Remarks from Flutterwave’s CEO
Flutterwave’s Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, was quoted in a news release as saying, “According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Africa is set to become one of the fastest growing aviation regions in the next 20 years with an annual expansion of nearly 5%. How can we further accelerate this growth?
One way is to ensure airlines can easily set up operations across the continent and seamlessly receive payments from their customers. This partnership with IATA solves the problem of payments for global airlines venturing into Africa. We hope that this encourages more global airlines to expand into Africa.”
About Flutterwave
Flutterwave is a financial technology firm based in Nigeria. The company offers a payment infrastructure to worldwide merchants and payment service providers located all over Africa.
Flutterwave offers a variety of Software Development Kits (SDKs) and plugins, and companies can use Flutterwave payments APIs to construct payment apps that are tailored to their specific needs. In addition, as a result of the company’s partnership with PayPal, customers from all over the world are now able to utilise the service to make purchases from businesses located in Africa.
Flutterwave is a Nigerian-owned and -operated firm, and the city of Lagos, which serves as the economic core of the country, is home to the company’s operating headquarters. The company also has offices in San Francisco.
Additionally, they have teams in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, and other nations in Africa, such as Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia.
