Report: Payments Cost Airlines $24.5bn in 2025
Stories by Chinedu Eze The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released new data showing that airlines globally incurred $24.5 billion in payment costs to process $1.05 trillion in sales in
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported that airlines worldwide incurred $24.5 billion in payment costs in 2025 while processing $1.05 trillion in sales. This represents a 10.4% increase in total costs compared to 2023, surpassing the overall 7.7% growth in travel sales during the same period. The average cost per transaction was $5 per passenger, with $20.7 billion (84.5%) attributed to payment fees or direct transaction costs, $2.9 billion (11.8%) due to airline operating expenses, and $0.9 billion (3.7%) lost due to fraud or uncollected sales.
Cards had the highest cost per transaction at 2.53%, compared to the overall average of 1.97%. IATA is exploring solutions, such as introducing alternative payment methods and its IATA Pay and IFG platforms, to reduce costs and adapt to changing passenger preferences for digital wallet and local instant payment solutions.
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