Avianca appoints CellPoint Digital for ambitious payment orchestration project

MIAMI,March 31,2021 --Avianca,the oldest commercial airline in the world,has partnered with CellPoint Digital to improve customer experience when purchasing services and optimising payments across their entire global operation. This payment orchestration project is one of the most ambitious undertaken by an airline to date and will also address the specific complexities of payment in Latin America.

Using its leading Velocity Payment Orchestration Platform (POP),CellPoint Digital will assemble and manage a unique payment eco-system for Avianca to ease our customers' payment process and simplify internal processes. Over five Payment Service Providers,40+ acquirers,and over 40+ payment methods will be fully integrated,allowing for frictionless payments worldwide. Velocity will enable Avianca to deploy 25+ new payment methods,including global e-wallets with Latin American-specific choices plus new European options to offer our customers a variety of options.

Velocity's roll-out will replace several current payment solutions with a single platform,radically accelerating the time to market for new acquirers and payment methods and automating key back-end processes such as refund and reconciliation. All transactions are dynamically routed to save cost and ensure the lowest rejection rate. Failed or refused transactions are automatically retried through an alternative route to maximise acceptance rates.

Alvaro Rosales,Payment Methods Manager at Avianca Holdings,says: "Offering to our customers their preferred payment method in an appealing and agile manner is critical for an excellent purchasing experience and also having a significant impact on our costs. It's a challenge for a global airline to develop the eco-system needed to optimise payments,especially with the variety of local requirements for Latin America. Therefore,we needed an independent and agnostic payment orchestrator to process,optimise and automate all our payments through all our channels. CellPoint Digital's advanced Payment Orchestration Platform will enable us to improve the purchasing experience for our customers and execute our payment strategy,boost our payment acceptance rate and reduce our average payment costs."

As the Payment Orchestration Platform will be deployed across all digital channels,including B2C (website,mobile app,chatbot),B2B,distributors and traditional channels (call centre,airport or city ticket offices),Avianca customers will benefit from a consistent and enhanced payment experience whichever channel they use. They will be invited to store their cards for future payments and enjoy a new level of flexibility: to pay in their currency of choice,to pay with vouchers or miles,to split payments between several methods,to pay in installments or to pay by simply clicking a weblink.

"We are delighted to partner with Avianca,a flagship airline that has achieved longevity through innovation and is now trailblazing in the area of payment orchestration. We share their vision that optimising payments will make a significant difference to faster recovery while delivering a unique advantage well into the foreseeable future," says Kristian Gjerding,CEO of CellPoint Digital. "In such challenging times,an airline cannot afford to lose a customer because their payment did not go through or they didn't find their preferred payment method. Reducing cross-border transactions provides a broad opportunity for global airlines to save costs. However,integrating multiple payment options brings much more complexity,and this is where Velocity will help Avianca: ultimately making it simpler to operate a much more complex payment eco-system."

For more information about CellPoint Digital's partnership with Avianca or to interview Kristian Gjerding,CEO ofCellPoint Digital,please contact Becky Sales at becky@skyparlour.com.

About CellPoint Digital

We make payments easier™ for airlines,travel companies and other international merchants and their customers.

CellPoint Digital is both a fintech and a traveltech company. We provide powerful payment and digital commerce solutions that enable merchants to simplify their systems,unify their customer experience and boost their digital transactionsacross websites,mobile apps and other channels. CellPoint Digital offers two omni-channel modular platforms. Velocity is a unique Payment Orchestration Platform that optimises all digital payment transactions,from cards or alternative payment methods,and accelerates the deployment of new payment options. Voyage is a full digital platform that masters the entire customer sales cycle (Promote,Sell,Pay,Serve). CellPoint Digital has offices in Copenhagen,Dallas,Dubai,London,Miami,Pune and Singapore. Visitwww.cellpointdigital.com to learn more.

About Avianca Airlines.

Avianca is the commercial brand regrouping freight,passenger and cargo airlines. Avianca has been flying uninterrupted for 100 years. With a fleet of 158 aircraft,Avianca serves 76 destinations in 27 countries within the Americas and Europe. Avianca transported 30 million passengers in 2019 and achieved US$4.6 billion revenues. Avianca is part of the Star Alliance network and offers a leading LifeMiles™ loyalty programme. Learn more on www.aviancaholdings.com

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