Nium Partners With Air France & KLM to Fuel Airline Payments

The fintech specialised in real-time global payments, Nium, has announced a collaboration with Air France and KLM to power closed-loop electronic payments between the airlines and select travel agents.

By leveraging the Nium Airline Payments (NAP) solution, Air France and KLM will be accessing an alternative to travel agent card transactions, using a private network of trusted Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP) authorisation rails and bank transfers.

As such, NAP will provide lower payment costs, more optionality and guaranteed payment acceptance for airlines and travel agencies.

NAP: Revolutionising travel agent, airline payments

Powered by a private network of UATP authorisation rails, NAP eliminates intermediaries from the payment flow, giving KLM and Air France greater flexibility to provide a new payment method for select travel agent partners. 

By using NAP, Nium can not only guarantee payment acceptance, it also reduces settlement time from hours to minutes, and, in some cases, even seconds.

NAP: Revolutionising travel agent, airline payments

Powered by a private network of UATP authorisation rails, NAP eliminates intermediaries from the payment flow, giving KLM and Air France greater flexibility to provide a new payment method for select travel agent partners. 

By using NAP, Nium can not only guarantee payment acceptance, it also reduces settlement time from hours to minutes, and, in some cases, even seconds.

Spencer Hanlon, Global Head of Travel Payments at Nium, says: “For decades, the travel industry has been grappling with complex, slow, and expensive payment methods. 

“Nium is helping travel agents and their airline and hotel partners unlock the potential of global real-time payments, transforming the way money moves through the travel ecosystem for the better. 

“We look forward to helping Air France and KLM resolve some of the inequities – for both the airlines and for the travel-selling intermediaries – associated with outdated traditional payment models.”

Leveraging NAP offers travel agents greater payment speed, efficiency and acceptance rates – all vital aspects to their successful operation, in one platform. 

NAP boosts conversion rates and improves operational efficiencies to effectively increase margins.

John Taylor, Head of Airline Payments at Nium, adds: “We built NAP to create a more equitable and sustainable model between airlines and their agent partners around the world. 

“For airlines, payments are no longer the necessary cost of doing business, but a determining factor in distribution discussions, increasing control and collaboration within the indirect sales channel. 

“It’s great to welcome Air France and KLM to the NAP family and we look forward to bringing the solution to its travel agent network together.” 

The collaboration will see NAP rolled out across Air France and KLM’s European travel agent network, initially in Italy before more markets are added in the near future. 

Growing Nium 

Nium’s latest collaboration in the airline/travel agent space follows its partnership with Remote announced at Money20/20 Europe earlier this month, signed to enhance global workforce management with real-time cross-border payroll solutions.

Indeed, Nium's growth, propelled by a series of partnerships, has been gathering momentum for some time. In April this year, the cross-border fintech joined forces with Trulioo to leverage its identity platform for personal and business verification.

And, in 2023, Nium expanded its B2B travel business in APAC, in response to growing demand for its virtual credit cards.

Founded on the mission to deliver the global payments infrastructure of tomorrow, today, Nium has gone from strength to strength in shaping how banks, fintechs and businesses everywhere collect, convert and disburse funds instantly across borders.

Today, its payout network supports 100 currencies and spans 220+ countries, 100 of which are in real-time. Its growing card issuance business is also available in 34 countries. 

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