Our media partner, IATA, shares this op-ed ahead of the World Passenger Symposium and World Financial Symposium in Istanbul this November, highlighting how retailing, payments, and digital identity are reshaping the future of air travel.
This November, the aviation industry will gather in Istanbul for IATA’s joint World Passenger Symposium (WPS) and World Financial Symposium (WFS), hosted by Turkish Airlines. Leaders from across finance, technology, and passenger experience, including Lufthansa, Finnair, British Airways, and Antom (a sister company of Alipay+), will come together to explore how airlines can transform retailing, payments, and digital identity to deliver smarter, simpler more seamless journeys.
Air travel is changing, not in ways that passengers see through new routes or shifting fares, but in the invisible systems that determine how journeys are bought, paid for, and experienced. In the next few years, the future of aviation will be decided not in the skies, but in how airlines embrace modern retailing, digital payments, and digital identity.
For decades, airline retailing was bound by legacy tools and rigid processes that offered little room for personalization or flexibility. That era is ending. Thanks to the shift toward Offers & Orders, supported by frameworks such as NDC and ONE Order, modern APIs, and dynamic pricing capabilities, airlines are getting closer to the customer: crafting more relevant offers, adapting services in real time, and giving travelers greater choice. In this transformation, the leaders will be those who embrace change swiftly and keep the passenger front and center.
Airline payment costs are massive. Recent studies estimate around USD 20–22 billion per year just for accepting payments. These are not minor technical overheads; they impact profitability, customer satisfaction, and competitiveness. Boards are increasingly seeing payments as a strategic priority, not a back-office detail. How the industry modernizes payments, through new partners, technologies, and standards, will directly affect not only how passengers pay, but how smoothly they travel.
Digital identity is also becoming essential. Travelers expect to move through airports and borders with the same ease as tapping a phone to pay for coffee. IATA’s One ID initiative brings this vision to life by using biometrics as a single token across the journey, enabling passengers to move seamlessly while reducing queues, cutting stress, and strengthening both security and trust. But success depends on collaboration: airlines, governments, and airports must work together, with transparency and passenger trust at the core.
WPS/WFS 2025 Program Highlights
The Symposium will open with keynotes from Bolat and Le Borgne, followed by a series of sessions. Highlights include:
- 2025 Global Passenger Survey Results: Exclusive insights into traveler priorities.
- Why Payment Should Be on Your Board Agenda: Tackling the USD 22 billion cost burden.
- Putting the Customer First: Unlocking value through finance, retailing, and operations.
In addition, three specialized tracks will dive deeper into:
- Offers & Orders in the Making: Airline case studies and IT vendor insights on how AI and legacy-free systems are transforming retailing and customer experience.
- Payment & Finance to Order: How airlines, payment providers, and corporate clients are modernizing payments and shifting revenue accounting to order accounting, tackling pain points, innovation, and standards.
- Digital Identity & Orders: Using digital identity and biometrics to streamline border processes, enable personalization, and improve disruption management, with airline and government innovations.
Aviation has never stood still, and the coming wave of change will be no different. Retailing, payments, and digital identity may not capture headlines like new aircraft or record traffic numbers, but they will define the passenger journey of tomorrow. What matters now is ensuring these innovations are guided by the voice of the traveler. That is the challenge that will be at the heart of discussions in Istanbul, the opportunity for aviation to deliver not just flights, but better experiences.
