• Airlines globally incurred $24.5 billion in payment costs to process $1.05 trillion in sales in 2025, a 10.4% increase in total costs versus 2023. That far exceeds the overall growth in travel sales over the same period, which was up 7.7% from $977 billion in 2023.
• The average cost per transaction was $5 per passenger. In comparison, IATA forecasts that airlines will make a net profit of $4.50 per passenger in 2026.
“The airline industry is hyper competitive, capital intensive and famously low margin. In such an environment every cost item needs to be looked at carefully. The fact that payment transaction costs are increasing faster than industry revenues is unsustainable and, despite significant technological advances, highlights the critical need for greater cost efficiency,” said Sandrine Le Borgne, IATA’s Interim Director General and CFO.
Further analysis of the $24.5 billion cost of payments in 2025 revealed that:
• $20.7 billion (84.5% of the total) was related to payment fees or the direct cost of completing each transaction.
• $2.9 billion (11.8% of the total) was related to airline operating costs, including various payment systems, delayed cashflow, staff, and compliance.
• $0.9 billion (3.7% of the total) was lost due to fraud or uncollected sales.
• Cards accounted for the highest cost per transaction with average payment fees at 2.53%, higher than the estimated overall average of 1.97%. The lowest-cost payment options were at 0.01%. (....)