Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) has announced a new deal with Alipay that will allow U.S.-based travel agents to sell airline tickets to Chinese travelers.
The agreement with Alipay, which is a mobile and online payment platform based in China with over 500 million users, will allow airlines to accept Alipay as a form of payment for tickets sold through the travel agency channel. ARC’s new offering to agencies is made possible by its partnership with Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP).
“Alipay is widely recognized as one of the largest payment platforms in the world, and as people from China travel to the U.S. they want to use their preferred payment method,” said Chuck Fischer, ARC’s managing director of airline services, in a written statement. “For airlines that choose to accept Alipay, ARC now provides the means to extend this payment platform to the agency channel. ARC continues to work with UATP to enable other payment options for airlines and agencies that can be easily integrated into their revenue accounting systems.”
ARC said that it anticipates that its airline and agency customers will desire to accept Alipay in the very near future.
“Customer demand for Alipay, and other payment options continues to grow and we want to fulfill that demand,” said UATP VP of Business Development Tom Cunningham. “Having the agency channel ready for Alipay acceptance is crucial; naturally, working with ARC is fundamental to meet this demand.”
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