Morocco’s carrier partners with Wirecard to integrate digital payments globally

Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, is handling payments for online and travel agency bookings for Royal Air Maroc, Morocco’s national airline, and one of Africa’s leading and fastest growing airlines, Wirecard announced Tuesday in a press release.

Royal Air Maroc is set to join the oneworld alliance in mid-2020, and has annual passenger figures of 7.4 million with an average of 245 daily departures. In 2018, Royal Air Maroc and its subsidiaries generated revenues of €1.5 billion, the press release said.

In addition to processing all online Visa, Mastercard and Maestro payments for Royal Air Maroc, Wirecard also handles credit card payments made via travel agency or airline agent ticket transaction settlement systems, such as ARC (Accounts Receivable Conversion) and IATA’s Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP), which serves more than 400 participating airlines and in 2018 processed more than €221.6 billion.

“We serve more than 90 destinations internationally and welcome passengers from around the globe on our flights,” said Yassine Berrada, CFO at Royal Air Maroc. “To reflect our global presence and reach, we are constantly broadening the scope of our service offerings, which include ensuring a convenient and easy payment experience no matter how our passengers choose to book flights with us. We are delighted to be cooperating with Wirecard in the area of digital payments.”

“The large part of air travel bookings are now paid for online and this trend is set to grow exponentially as payments become more digital. In 2018 alone, air travel booked over the Internet generated a revenue of over €360 million worldwide,” said Eckart Reiche, Vice President Global Airline Sales at Wirecard.

“Not only is Morocco a top tourist destination, Casablanca, as the major hub for Royal Air Maroc, connects flights to North and South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and in the near future, Asia. We are proud to leverage on our expertise in global digital payments for Royal Air Maroc, and add another national airline to our already extensive client portfolio.”