Swiipr, the payment platform digitally transforming airline disruption payments, has launched a series of new APIs that enable airlines to digitally transform their disruption and compensation payment operations in as little as a few weeks, irrespective of the airline’s legacy systems.

Over 500m global passengers are estimated to be affected by flight disruption each year, costing airlines billions of dollars in payouts as well as significant customer dissatisfaction. Swiipr’s payment technology allows airlines to digitise disruption payments, greatly enhancing the passenger experience and driving cost efficiency by up to 60%.

Swiipr’s new APIs reduce much of the complexity airlines have traditionally faced in digitising their compensation payments, including transitioning from bank transfers, cash, or paper vouchers to virtual cards.

The new APIs enable any airline to directly integrate Swiipr’s platform with their existing IT infrastructure, even if running legacy systems. The “out of the box” API is fully customizable to meet each airline’s bespoke needs, and can also integrate with third parties - such as IT disruption partners and  ground handling who support airlines during travel disruptions.

Swiipr’s digital platform also provides rich real time data which gives the airline invaluable insights into patterns of disruption and passenger impact.

“Legacy passenger compensation payments systems simply aren’t fit for use. Passengers and airlines alike are crying out for a tech-driven solution that meets their needs and reduces disruption, cost and stress,” said Swiipr co-founder and CEO Tara Spielhagen.

“Our APIs enable us to integrate with any airline, irrespective of their exiting digital infrastructure, enabling us to scale with ease. It also means we can easily give our payment technology to existing passenger recovery platforms. We can’t prevent flight delays, but we can speed up the compensation process and give airlines the tools they need to meet their passengers’ and regulatory needs,” she added.

Having launched in 2020, Swiipr is already issuing to passengers across 137 airlines across 70 countries, including major flag carriers. The Swiipr Compensation Card enables airlines to distribute funds directly to travellers at the point of disruption, while the Swiipr Welfare Card provides travellers with food & beverage payments when flights are delayed.