There’s a man based in a small village south of Frankfurt who is quietly reshaping how airline tickets get paid for across 190 countries. Ben Sibbald, Head of Payments at Hahnair, sat down with FinTech Magazine to explain how fintech’s role in global travel has evolved from a back-office necessity into a genuine strategic engine and why the payment layer of the airline industry is more complex, and more consequential, than most people realize.
Hahnair’s Payment Challenge: 190 Markets, Zero Margin for Error
Why “Accept Payment” Is the Hardest Problem in Airline Distribution
Hahnair isn’t a carrier you book directly. It’s the invisible infrastructure behind the scenes connecting more than 350 airlines with over 100,000 travel agencies across 190 markets worldwide, enabling those travel agents to sell more airlines and giving those airlines access to more customers through a two-sided marketplace approach. WinBuzzer
That means when a travel agent in Vietnam wants to book a ticket on a regional airline that only operates in West Africa, Hahnair makes that transaction possible. And buried inside every single one of those transactions is a payment problem that needs to be solved differently in every market.
Hahnair currently accepts credit card payments in 112 of those 190 markets, adapting to local banking infrastructures and card schemes including Visa, MasterCard, UnionPay, JCB, and Diners Club Discover. As Sibbald puts it: “Practically every country uses credit cards differently and for different reasons.” WinBuzzer
His team’s job is to figure out which payment methods are essential or merely desirable in each market and then implement them in ways that minimize risk while maximizing the chance that a booking actually completes.
Virtual Cards and Fraud Prevention at Global Scale
The Technology Quietly Protecting Billions in Airline Transactions
One of the most impactful innovations Sibbald’s team has deployed is the use of virtual credit cards a fintech solution that has changed how Hahnair manages risk across its massive partner network.
Virtual cards eliminate fraud and ‘unrecognised transaction’ disputes because they are transaction-specific and tightly controlled, clearly attributable to a single booking which lowers fraud and chargeback risk for both the company and its travel agent partners.
Beyond virtual cards, Hahnair’s partnership with Worldpay was specifically chosen because of Worldpay’s global capabilities, transparency regarding costs, and expertise in the airline industry giving the organization the visibility needed to manage its complex, multi-market customer base.
The payment stack also includes BSP Cash, IATA EasyPay, and UATP card solutions each selected with a specific market context in mind. This isn’t a technology-first approach for its own sake. It’s precision engineering applied to a genuinely messy global problem.
The Future Sibbald Sees and Why It Might Surprise You
More Fragmentation, Not Less and Super Apps on the Horizon
Most conversations about fintech in travel predict consolidation fewer payment methods, dominant platforms, standardized rails. Sibbald’s prediction runs in the opposite direction, and it’s worth taking seriously.
He foresees a growing number of payment options, including country-specific ones noting that Europe’s development of Vero as a regional card scheme seemed unnecessary 15 years ago but now appears strategic, while Turkey, Russia, India, Brazil, Nigeria, and Vietnam have all established domestic card schemes. Nations want to control financial communication networks and keep transaction profits within their borders.
At the same time, Sibbald predicts the rise of super apps that will accept whatever payment method a user desires The Register creating a user-facing simplicity layer over an increasingly fragmented backend infrastructure. For Hahnair and the wider travel industry, that means the payment complexity doesn’t go away it just moves deeper into the system, where companies like Hahnair become even more essential.
Conclusion Payment Is the Foundation the Travel Industry Stands On
Ben Sibbald’s message is clear and practical: if the transaction doesn’t complete, the trip doesn’t happen. Payment isn’t a feature of the travel experience it’s the foundation that everything else is built on.
As fintech continues to reshape how money moves across borders, the companies that understand both the local nuance and the global scale of travel payments will be the ones that define what booking a flight looks like in five years. Hahnair, with Sibbald’s team at the payments helm, is one of the companies building that future right now. Whether you’re a travel industry professional or simply someone who books flights, the infrastructure they’re building affects your journey every time. 🌍
