Qatar Airways announced that it is extending its partnership with international bank card network UnionPay to an additional 31 countries and regions, providing a convenient payment option for even 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.
The expansion of the agreement was signed on 28 February 2018 at a special ceremony held at the UnionPay head office in Shanghai, represented by Mr. Marwan Koleilat, Qatar Airways Senior Vice President Asia Pacific; and Mr. Larry Wang, UnionPay International Vice President.
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.
Qatar Airways Senior Vice President Asia Pacific, Mr. Marwan 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.”
UnionPay International Vice President, Mr. Larry 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 90 million cards issued outside mainland China, UnionPay is offering payment convenience to a growing number of global customers. Now, UnionPay is accepted at more than 10 million 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 per cent year-on-year.
As well as being voted Skytrax ‘Airline of the Year’ by travellers from around the world, Qatar’s national flag carrier also won a raft of other major awards at last year’s ceremony, including ‘Best Airline in the Middle East,’ ‘World’s Best Business Class’ and ‘World’s Best First Class Airline Lounge.’
Qatar Airways operates a modern fleet of more than 200 aircraft to a network of more than 150 key business and leisure destinations across six continents. The airline will launch a host of exciting new destinations in 2018, including Thessaloniki, Greece and Cardiff, U.K, to name just a few.
