Global flight search and booking website, Alternative Airlines , has announced a new strategic partnership with A tome , a BNPL provider, to offer flexible payment options to travellers in Asia. The partnership is currently available for tourists from Malaysia and Singapore looking to book a flight and it is expected to reach other markets in Asia in the following months of 2023.

Moreover, customers can now search and book flights from over 600 airlines that Alternative Airlines provides and pay for their travels with Atome to split the costs in interest-free monthly instalments, depending on their preferences. Will the BNPL model stick in 2023? As travelling resumes after almost three years of pandemic and borders start to reopen, people all over the world are eager to fly again. However, the current economic situation has led to spikes in airline and accommodation tickets, which are not around 25% more expensive than before 2020.

Alternative Airlines is one of the many booking companies that has adopted the trend of instalment payments, offering its customers more flexibility when booking their flights through the platform. By partnering with Atome, clients from Asia can now choose to pay for their air tickets in up to three monthly instalments without interest, which is estimated to determine an increase in the overall price of the trip and a profit for the online booking platform. According to a 2022 report released by Worldpay from FIS, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is the fastest-growing payment method online and in-store, and is expected to maintain its status at least until 2025.

In the APAC region, countries like Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore had the highest BNPL penetration rates in 2021, ranging from 4% to 11%. As the cost of living continues to increase leading to new highs in terms of inflation rates, merchants and service providers are forced to align with the new trends in the payment industry and offer more flexibility to maintain their customer base. About the companies Atome was first launched in Singapore in late 2019, and, since then, has become one of the most important players on the local BNPL market, counting on over 15,000 merchants in its network.

Key merchant partners include Sephora, Pandora, SHEIN, Zara, Marks & Spencer, Aldo, and others. At the same time, Alternative Airlines is an online platform that provides quick, easy, and personalised booking experiences, with the support of an expert customer service team. It offers over 600 choices in terms of global airlines, including all major carriers and smaller airlines flying to remote regions of the world.

Its global audience can now choose from 40+ international payment methods, including the recent BNPL, as well as e-wallets and more than 70 cryptocurrencies across 160 fiat currencies. .