Case Studies

CellPoint Digital provide payments innovation for aviation giant Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic turned to CellPoint Digital’s world-leading Payment Orchestration Platform to overcome mounting payment challenges.

Virgin Atlantic – a full-service carrier based out of Crawley, United Kingdom– recognized CellPoint Digital’s deep knowledge of payments specific to the airline industry. There was an alignment between the challenges faced by Virgin Atlantic and the solutions provided by CellPoint Digital, which laid the foundations for a successful partnership.

Through integrating CellPoint Digital’s pioneering Payment Orchestration Platform, Virgin Atlantic has been able to procure an innovative payment solution that both eases the process of accessing and onboarding new acquirers and enables the use of alternative payment methods.

Challenge

Virgin Atlantic is one of the largest carriers in the UK and connects a myriad of international cities, including – but not limited to – New York, Orlando, Delhi and Johannesburg

To maintain its prominent position, Virgin Atlantic needs to remain at the cutting edge of payment services.

However, several problems had arisen for Virgin Atlantic: struggles accessing multiple credit card acquirers to diversify risk; inability to integrate directly with new acquirers due to the lengthy development work required; and lack of access to alternative payment methods.

Solution

Virgin Atlantic knew CellPoint Digital had unrivalled expertise in the airline payments space and recognized them as a market-leading specialist airline payments innovator.

CellPoint Digital’s nuanced understanding of the complexities of this industry drew the attention of Virgin Atlantic. Discussions exploring a potential payment partnership with CellPoint Digital to enhance Virgin Atlantic’s current offering began in 2019. A formal request for proposal process was carried out prior to the selection of CellPoint Digital.

The solutions offered by CellPoint Digital were neatly aligned with the challenges Virgin Atlantic wanted to resolve head-on. CellPoint Digital’s Payment Orchestration Platform was integrated into Virgin Atlantic’s current offering, advancing a market-leading payment solution that has opened new possibilities for Virgin Atlantic.

The partnership is supporting Virgin Atlantic to meet important business goals

Results

The partnership between CellPoint Digital and Virgin Atlantic has been highly successful. Integration of Velocity, the leading Payment Orchestration Platform has allowed Virgin Atlantic to route its transactions to their preferred acquirers using the CellPoint Digital intelligent routing system. Access to multiple credit card acquirers has been promoted, supporting Virgin Atlantic’s desire to diversify its risk.

Furthermore, the process of adding new acquirers has been streamlined; Virgin Atlantic has been able to add a new credit card acquirer sooner than expected, leading to an optimised payment process that meets customer needs. Further success can be seen in the use of CellPoint Digital’s alternative payment hub.

The coming together of CellPoint Digital and Virgin Atlantic has afforded exciting opportunities through which Virgin Atlantic has – and will continue to – reduce friction in the payment experience. The partnership is supporting Virgin Atlantic to meet important business goals. Through adding new acquirers, and offering new payment methods, Virgin Atlantic is benefiting from increased acceptance rates and cost savings.