Navigating the Shift from AirPlus:
5 Key Considerations When Switching to a New Payment Provider
What’s happening with AirPlus?
AirPlus, a renowned global corporate payment provider, is refocusing its operations across Europe and North America, leading to its departure from the APAC and LATAM markets.
Known for its Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP) central account that streamlines travel expense management for corporations, AirPlus exited Malaysia on March 31, 2025, along with other LATAM markets. The final exits from remaining APAC countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, China, Japan, and Australia etc., are planned for June 30, 2025.
As corporations scramble to finalise new payment providers to meet the impending deadline, here are five key aspects to consider when switching your payment provider:
1. Traveller’s experience
Traveller experience is central to corporate travel management. How travel expenses are handled can significantly affect a traveler’s experience and willingness to participate in future business trips. AirPlus’s central settlement account allows seamless reconciliation of invoices without burdening travellers with complex expense claims.
While individual corporate cards or reimbursement methods have their perks, it is important to balance out organisational needs and traveller’s experience. Centralising travel payments not only benefits the finance teams with better control and compliance with company expenses, but it also relieves travellers from out-of-pocket expenses and the administrative work related to submitting claims.
2. Technical capabilities
Seamless integration with Expense Management Systems (EMS) is a key feature of AirPlus, allowing smooth transfer of financial and travel data, such as air ticket information, into systems like Concur Expense. When seeking alternatives, look for providers who have similar integration features to ensure continuity in your financial processes, like AMEX BTA, Mastercard/VISA CTA or the new entrant, APG Pay. For China, it remains to be seen whether the local players like Antu Jinxin & Bilink have similar level of integration capabilities to global EMS players.
You may also want to consider Travel Management Companies (TMCs) that offer both expense data integration features and in-house payment solutions. Corporations on this setup enjoy the benefits of centralised payment while reducing the management of multiple vendors.
3. Acceptance within the travel ecosystem
AirPlus is well-integrated within the TMC ecosystem. TMCs securely transmit card details to airlines and hand off information such as ticket numbers, PNRs, flight routes, and company-specific employee details (e.g., employee IDs and cost centres) to EMS systems. Therefore, your new payment solution must be well-integrated within the travel ecosystem to ensure that it is accepted as a payment option and capable of handling data transmission to streamline expense management seamlessly.
4. Reliability
The exit of a dominant player like AirPlus from the market underscores the unpredictability of provider stability. Therefore, it is essential to conduct a thorough due diligence before onboarding any new payment providers. Have a robust framework that assesses all aspects of the provider to avoid any downstream operational impact. If unsure, your TMC partner is a good resource to provide you with the insights.
5. Implementation timelines
There are key timelines to keep in mind when changing your payment provider:
- Onboarding timeline
- Time required by your TMC to make necessary system changes (consider downtime of your online booking tool)
- Additional time for bookings made with the existing card but not yet paid to avoid payment errors
- Keeping your old card active for a given period to manage any refunds on unused tickets purchased
For existing AirPlus customers, it is advisable to transition to a new payment method at least one month before June 30 to minimise potential disruption in bookings. Additionally, AirPlus has allowed customers up to six weeks after June 30th to submit any refund requests.
I have consolidated a list of providers in the APAC region who provide similar services to AirPlus, each with its own pros and cons. Please note that this information is provided to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing and may change over time.
Here is a transition checklist:
- Evaluate Alternative Providers
- Verify Technical Integration
- Conduct necessary Due Diligence
- Plan Implementation Timeline
- Communication to Employees
- Maintain Backup Payment Solutions
We hope this information will help you to navigate the dynamic corporate travel payment environment. If you have any questions or need assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at FCM Travel.
Disclaimer: The blog is authored by Choon Seng Ng, Commercial Payments Leader- FCM Asia. The opinions expressed by the author are their own. Please ensure you conduct your due diligence.