Amadeus, a global provider in travel technology, has partnered with DPO Group, a pan-African digital payments company, to enable digital payments for regional and international airlines
Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s largest market for mobile money payments. There were 548 million registered mobile money accounts in the region at the end of 2020, almost 46% of the global total, according to the GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2021.
Amadeus’ airline customers will be able to accept local payments, including via mobile money and card payments, allowing international airlines to operate locally and African airlines to expand globally. DPO is connected to multiple regional and international airlines via Amadeus’s airline passenger system.
Eran Feinstein, CEO of DPO Group, commented, “African mobile money is a gamechanger for airlines flying from and within Africa, allowing them to reach local customers that they were previously unable to. Airlines have been a key focus area for DPO since we first launched in 2006 with a local airline as our first African merchant. This partnership with Amadeus is an important development, allowing us to expand our airline merchant base beyond African borders.
“It also points to the changing nature of the airline industry which has had to develop adaptive and resilient approaches to reaching customers after a challenging 18 months of global travel restrictions. We’re looking forward to working closely with the team at Amadeus to support airlines and their African customers with more flexible ways to pay.”
Jean-Christophe Lacour, head of merchant services, payments, Amadeus, added, “At Amadeus, we are working towards a frictionless future for travel payments, and partnering with DPO Group is yet another step in that direction. Its local footprint and expertise allows us to extend our reach in African markets and offer our customers more flexible payment options, such as mobile money. We are excited to work closely with the DPO team to expand our offering on the continent and help airlines grow their customer bases.”
