CAPA TV

Airline payments have become one of the fastest-evolving and most strategically important parts of our industry today. They used to be seen as back-office plumbing. But that’s changed – dramatically.

Airlines are now recognising that payments are not just a cost centre, but a competitive differentiator. How you let customers pay – and how efficiently you collect and manage that money – has huge implications for loyalty, ancillary revenue, global reach, fraud prevention, and overall customer experience.

As new payment technologies, regulatory shifts, and changing customer expectations converge, airlines are under pressure to innovate - and at the same time, keep things safe, scalable, and secure.

To navigate what’s new, and what’s next, Wendy Ward, Chief Marketing Officer and Michael Marrone, Chief Financial Officer at UATP - a company that has been at the centre of airline payments innovation for decades - joined Rich Maslen, Head of Analysis, CAPA - Centre for Aviation at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit - Asia in Singapore in Oct-2025.

Few things have the potential to spike the blood pressure quite like air travel. Whether it's the mysterious disappearance of gate agents when flights are delayed, a missed connection, a cryptic delay notification, or standing in a queue that defies the laws of physics – for many travellers, what’s meant to be the start of an adventure or a long-awaited reunion can become a source of real stress.

But lately, that stress has become a little less funny and a lot more chronic. Travellers are no longer just anxious about legroom – they’re anxious about whether they’ll get home at all.

And yet, while we all love to grumble about airports and airline meals, the expectations we place on the travel experience have never been higher. Today’s travellers want seamless journeys, instant updates, and proactive solutions – and they want them delivered with the same polish and immediacy as a ride-hailing app. And while airlines grapple with weather, IT outages, and a revolving door of regulations, travellers just want one thing: a sense that someone – somewhere – has their back.

On the other hand, airlines and travel tech companies are battling a very different reality – one shaped by weather volatility, system failures, shifting regulations, and global uncertainty. Delays and cancellations have become more frequent, more complex, and harder to predict.

So, how do we ease customer anxieties in this climate? Can innovation and AI help bridge the growing trust gap between travellers and the travel industry? And can technology — sometimes blamed for the depersonalisation of service – actually become the invisible safety net that quietly protects the customer when things go wrong?

Oliver Dlouhý, CEO of Kiwi.com, took to the stage at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit - Asia in Singapore in Oct-2025 to discuss the subject, addressing this issue through innovative product design and how AI integration can be the invisible architecture protecting customers and simplifying life for airlines.

The fast-growing Asia Pacific aviation sector is forecast to require more than 400,000 new aviation professionals over the next decade to meet demand for increase in air travel. With regional airlines already struggling to attract sufficient pilots, cabin crew and engineers just to meet their existing operations, where is this new wave of aviation professionals going to come from?

• Does aviation have an image problem when it comes to attracting new workers?

• How does the sector attract and retain new talent? What is the role of internal training, upskilling and re-training in maximizing worker retention?

• What are the expectations of the next generation of aviation workers?

• How does the sector look at technologies like AI and automation address workforce gaps?

• How do Asia Pacific airlines compete for staff with the large airlines of the Middle East, North America and Europe?

Join CAPA - Centre for Aviation, the world's most trusted source for aviation intelligence, for a comprehensive snapshot of the state of commercial aviation across the globe. Featuring exclusive insights generated from CAPA's extensive data and aviation knowledge tools, this session will not only examine key performance metrics for aviation, but will examine implications for major trends in regional aviation that are shaping the industry's outlook.

Aeroprime Group has a deep understanding of the Indian aviation landscape and market dynamics. Their services are based on industry best practices, and data-driven business strategies.

Uncertainty is a universal acid to aviation businesses: eroding confidence, undermining business plans and forcing leaders into undesirable positions. With uncertainty - economic, political, regulatory and structural - growing for the industry, how do aviation businesses, regulators, lawmakers and other stakeholders respond and adapt to this challenge?

Visa's Lead Economist (Asia Pacific) shares fresh perspectives on Asia Pacific's travel recovery and growth corridors. - revealing how transactional data uncovers emerging travel patterns, evolving customer behaviours and the economic forces shaping the region's travel landscape.

Aviation's sustainability transition in the Asia Pacific seems to be making headway - both institutional and industrial. After years of lobbying, more favourable policy environments are emerging across the region. These are increasingly being met by much-needed investments from the public and private sectors, particularly in the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) sector. In the meantime, airlines continue to update their fleets and seek out new technologies that will allow them to reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of their businesses.

• What is the role of regional governments in supporting airlines in achieving their sustainability objectives? Are SAF targets and usage mandates - which are already being introduced or contemplated in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand - realistic and effective?

• Is there a risk that the Asia Pacific won't be able to meet its own SAF production need? Facilities in South Korea and mainland China are due to be joined by new plants in Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia this year, but is this enough to even meet current demand?

• Is there space, or political will, for a more collective approach to aviation sustainability in the Asia Pacific? Can regional economic groupings like ASEAN work to support frameworks that will accelerate adoption of sustainable policies and generate greater momentum?

• With business travel still on a rapid growth trajectory, do corporate customers have a role to play in supporting the sustainability of regional airlines?

Southeast Asia has been one of the world's fastest growing aviation regions. However, a number of key regional markets, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, have seen a recent slowdown in growth.

• Is the recent slowdown in these markets just a transient phenomenon, or is there something more structural going on?

• What are the options to accelerate intra-regional aviation liberalisation? How is ASEAN open skies progressing?

• Are regional low cost carriers starting to run out of new markets to develop? Is it time for them to move up the customer value chain?

• What are the competitive responses of full service carriers in the region to a new surge in competition, both from other network carriers from outside the region and from LCCs within?