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Maximising Revenue Through Intelligent Payment Orchestration

Thanks to the ascendency of ecommerce, booking flights and travel has never been easier for customers, and yet their expectations when it comes to booking trips and other optional extras has never been higher. Indeed, ecommerce and airlines have been a natural fit since the former’s inception.

And yet an inefficient ecommerce store can prove to be as much of a strain on a travel company’s finances as it is a boon. Cart abandonment – the phenomenon in which customers give up on making a purchase before completing a transaction – abounds in the world of travel ecommerce. According to data provided by Statista, airlines sadly boast some of the highest cart abandonment rates of any industry in the world, standing at a whopping 90% as of 2025.

With this in mind, we can see that if a large volume of revenue is clearly lost through cart abandonment, which mostly occurs at the payment stage of the customer journey, then something negative is occurring in the payment process to discourage customers. Ergo, to optimize their revenue and decrease cart abandonment rates, travel merchants have an obligation to ensure that the payment process is as simple, quick, and seamless as possible.

In this article, we’ll be discussing how travel enterprises and airlines can optimize their payment systems to secure a high boost in revenue, the challenges that drain their store’s profits, and how Payment Orchestration could be the way forward. Read on to learn more.

The Hidden Costs of Payment Processing

Apart from cart abandonment, are there other negative factors that can drain the revenue of an airline’s store at the payment stage of the journey? The answer is yes. These are just some of the hidden costs of payment processing that can leech a company’s finances.

1. Chargebacks

First of all, chargebacks, such as for refunded items, can be a significant expense for any ecommerce merchant. This is because the merchant will be forced to pay for the third-party payment processing twice over – once for the initial purchase, and again for the refund. This means that the associated fees will essentially double.

An inefficient or ineffective payment system can also produce errors, such as charging a customer twice for the same item – which can also increase the overhead costs of the payment platform.

2. Fraud

An inefficient payment system is far more vulnerable to fraud and exploitation than an optimized and up-to-date payment infrastructure. These inefficiencies can also lead to further lost revenue for the corporate victim when their vulnerabilities invariably lead to exploitation (such as phishing or hacking) from malicious cybercriminals.

Indeed, per Forbes, the International Air Transport Association has reported that airlines lose 1.2% of revenue annually from their website and mobile sales to fraud, costing airlines a minimum of $1 billion every year.

3. Currency Conversion Fees

The larger an ecommerce business is, the more countries it is likely to operate in. For travel companies, where cross-border payments are the name of the game, this means that their payment system will have to account for a wide range of currencies and international finance regulations.

When travel businesses or airlines with an outdated payment system are forced to rely on third-party payment processors to fulfill international transactions, the accumulation of fees can increase exponentially – adding up to more lost revenue over time.

4. Interchange Fees

Interchange fees, typically from banks and credit card providers themselves, can also be a massive drain on an airline’s revenue. Interchange fees are usually the largest portion of a merchant's total card processing costs; accounting for 70-90% of their payment processing fees.

Reducing the number of third parties a merchant is reliant on (and thus the volume of fees the merchant has to shell out for) will thereby allow them to recoup more of their store profits.

5. Local Processing

Local processing can be another drain on an airline’s. In layman’s terms, local processing is when the merchant acquirer or payment processor used in a transaction is based in the country or jurisdiction where the actual payment is taking place. This can often mean even more fees for airline merchants to contend with – especially when payments go back and forth between regions.

How to Improve Payment Performance

So, now that we’ve addressed some of the revenue-draining pain points airline merchants are forced to contend with, what specific measures can they take to recoup their lost revenue or even gain greater profits?

In our opinion, adopting Payment Orchestration is the best way of overcoming the above issues, allowing merchants to consolidate and track all incoming and outgoing payments across a single dashboard, which can be continually optimised automatically. This results in a high-quality payment infrastructure that can better handle a large volume of cross-border transactions, while simultaneously reducing the number of third-party fees to payment providers, credit card companies, and banks.

But improving the payment experience means more than just adopting new tech and calling it a day. Payment Orchestration should be viewed as a fusion of technology and processes, both of which need continual adjustment and refinement to achieve the best possible results. Let’s break down how merchants can leverage Payment Orchestration to improve their payment performance and reduce lost revenue.

1. Track Key Metrics

Before any attempt is made to improve the performance of a payment system, merchants should first attempt to measure how successful it is currently. This involves undertaking a deep analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of your system or platform, based around key metrics which can be measured against your new platform. Some of these key metrics include:

Conversion rates

Customer satisfaction/Customer experience
Volume of fees/Platform traffic
Cart abandonment/Completion
Conversion of fraud optimisation
Market/Gateway performance rates

2. Adopt New Practices

Airlines who adopt Payment Orchestration can’t simply continue to work the same way as they did before. Instead, they need to change their working habits to get the most out of their new platform, and should take advantage of the new payment techniques enabled by this new technology.

Merchants should take advantage of dynamic routing, intelligent routing, and tokenisation to improve payment performance – while explaining what each of these concepts are and how they work.

3. Employ Machine Learning and Analytics

One of the biggest advantages of Payment Orchestration is that it allows merchants to channel their vast storehouse of customer data into actionable insights, which can then be leveraged to further optimize the payment process and customer experience.

For example, leveraging machine learning can help merchants predict payment outcomes, identify fraud patterns, and personalise payment experiences. Furthermore, machine learning can also be employed to analyse the payment process, as well as the general layout and design of your online store or booking website, and analyse where inefficiencies are. By eliminating these inefficiencies, your business will be able to thrive and achieve higher profits than ever before.

Case Study: Cebu Pacific

Let’s look at an example of where Cellpoint managed to streamline payment systems and improve ecommerce efficiency for a travel merchant.

Cebu Pacific Air – the largest airline in the Philippines – partnered with CellPoint Digital to address payment challenges and boost network growth. The partnership aimed to optimize Cebu Pacific's multi-acquirer strategy, reduce transaction costs, increase payment acceptance rates, and lower fraud prevention costs.

By working with Cellpoint on their Payment Orchestration strategy, Cebu Pacific managed to successfully enhance its routing capabilities, generate substantial cost savings, and reduce the resources needed to manage its growing payment ecosystem. Thus, payment processing has now become a driver for profit and growth, rather than a financial burden.

Collaborate With Cellpoint For Effective Payment Orchestration

Implementing a Payment Orchestration into an existing infrastructure is no mean feat, and can come loaded with challenges for the uninitiated.

Airline merchants looking to upgrade their payment services should develop a phased implementation plan – starting with a pilot program and gradually expanding to other areas, while keeping a close eye on their key performance metrics, and adjusting their settings accordingly.

Cellpoint boasts plenty of experience helping other organisations with their Payment Orchestration onboarding, and that our platform is best suited to travel merchants who want to optimize their experience.

So, if you’re looking to update your payment systems to maximize ROI, then contact us now.

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