The national carrier's deal with the international bank card network to provide 'convenient' payment option for more passengers worldwide when booking tickets on QR website

Qatar Airways is extending its partnership with international bank card network UnionPay to an additional 31 countries and regions, providing a “convenient” payment option for more Qatar Airways passengers around the world when booking tickets on the airline’s website.

Customers in countries including Qatar, Kuwait, India, Oman, Switzerland, Canada, Brazil and South Africa, among others, will be able to take advantage of UnionPay’s secure payment option when booking tickets on the airline’s website to more than 150 destinations on Qatar Airways’ extensive global network.

Under the expanded agreement, Qatar Airways and UnionPay will embark upon greater collaboration for various sales and marketing initiatives. Both parties will also look at creating a new and exclusive co-branded card that will provide UnionPay customers exclusive benefits on selected products by Qatar Airways.

The expansion of the agreement was signed at the UnionPay head office in Shanghai recently, represented by Marwan Koleilat, Qatar Airways senior vice president (Asia Pacific); and Larry Wang, UnionPay International vice president.

Koleilat, said: “We always seek to ensure that our passengers’ journey is smooth and seamless, from the moment they book their tickets until the point at which they reach their final destination. The expansion of our agreement with UnionPay will provide even more customers the opportunity to use UnionPay as their preferred payment option when booking their tickets online, ensuring a convenient and hassle-free booking experience.”

Wang said, “As more and more travellers prefer to go on free-and-independent travels, UnionPay International continues to deepen our partnerships with international airlines, to provide safe and smooth online flight ticket purchase service to our global customers. Our expanded agreement with Qatar Airways will increase UnionPay card acceptance rate in the airline industry, offering better card-using experiences to UnionPay cardholders outside mainland China. The co-branded card to be issued will enhance the benefits we provide for our cardholders in the aviation industry, and will enhance UnionPay’s value proposition and boost our overseas expansion.”

With about 90mn cards issued outside mainland China, UnionPay is offering payment convenience to a growing number of global customers. Now, UnionPay is accepted at more than 10mn online merchants based in more than 200 countries and regions outside mainland China.

It is particularly convenient to make travel reservations with UnionPay cards online. Today, passengers are able to use UnionPay cards to purchase flight tickets at the official website of more than 40 international airlines. In 2017, online flight ticket transaction volume of UnionPay grew by 140% year-on-year.
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