Tag: Airline Industry

Manila, Philippines – In its efforts to boost domestic tourism in the Philippines, AirAsia has partnered with local hotels in the country to launch SNAP, a new flight and hotel platform on airasia.com which offers convenient fly and stay packages.  

The airline will be offering an introductory SNAP promotion of up to 50% off on flights when consumers book a flight and hotel via the platform. This special promotional fare will be available on airasia.com from 21 to 27 September 2020, for travel from 21 September 2020 to 25 March 2021.

The airline assures in its press statement that it will be complying with advice and regulations from the local government, civil aviation authorities,  and global and local health agencies, including the World Health Organization. 

The company said that guests can expect enhanced safety measures throughout the entire journey, including pre-flight, in-flight, and arrival processes. These include the mandatory wearing of face masks to be permitted to travel, among others. Guests will also be advised to check and comply with measures implemented by local airport authorities for a smooth travel experience.

AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla said, “We are pleased to launch SNAP in the Philippines to be able to provide new and affordable offerings on airasia.com, especially for business travelers and those planning for their future getaways once leisure travel is permitted.”

Isla added, “Aside from developing airasia.com as Asia’s fastest-growing super app, this initiative has opened up opportunities to work with partner hotels, as we start to recover from the effects of the pandemic which have devastated the travel and tourism industry. We look forward to forming more partnerships with more hotels in the future.”

Philippines – CellPoint Digital, a leading provider of digital commerce and payment solutions to airlines and travel companies, has partnered with Cebu Pacific, one of the largest airlines in the Philippines to implement a cutting-edge Payment Orchestration Platform across all its digital channels.

CellPoint Digital’s payment orchestration platform, Velocity, will enable Cebu Pacific to simplify the payment experience of its repeat customers by deploying stored cards in all its digital channels with a single sign-on.

Velocity is a PSP and acquirer agnostic and will enable the airline to build and orchestrate a bespoke network of acquiring banks. The intelligent routing module will dynamically optimize the routing of each transaction via this network, thereby maximizing the acceptance rate and lowering transaction costs.

Cebu Pacific will also have the ability to fast track the launch of new payment methods in new markets, by picking and rapidly activating new ones from CellPoint’s growing payment ecosystem, including over 40 local and global cards and over 350 alternative payment methods.

Based on CellPoint’s experience, stored cards will generate a double-digit uplift on the conversion rate and a payment acceptance rate exceeding the airline industry average. Customer satisfaction and the conversion  is also expected to be boosted by pay-by-link messages that re-engage customers who leave at check-out. A multi-currency pricing feature offers international travelers the option to pay in their preferred currency.

“Our customers remain at the heart of our business – as such, we are constantly improving their customer journey with us. As we continue transforming processes towards a frictionless experience, implementing effective and secure online payment portals is critical. With this new development, we look forward to providing our passengers an omnichannel experience and the ease of one-click payments, along with localized options in all markets,” said Candice Iyog, vice-president for marketing and customer experience at Cebu Pacific.

Meanwhile, Kristian Gjerding, CEO of CellPoint Digital said, “We are delighted to partner with one of the most successful airlines in the Asia Pacific and support their impressive expansion and commitment to the best digital customer experience. Our independent payment platform will give Cebu the agility and control they need to optimize further their payment strategy and drastically simplify their customer payment experience,” Gjerding added.