The International Air Transport Association (IATA) opened its joint World Financial Symposium (WFS) and World Passenger Symposium (WPS) in Istanbul, urging the industry to close the gap between current fragmented systems and the seamless, digitally enabled experience passengers now demand.
Addressing industry leaders from finance, commercial, and operations, Sandrine Le Borgne, IATA’s Senior Vice President, Corporate Services & Chief Financial Officer, highlighted that the core challenges of financial sustainability and a frictionless passenger journey are “inseparable.”
“A seamless journey for passengers cannot happen without financial sustainability, and financial sustainability depends on delivering real value to passengers,” Le Borgne stated. “The technology for personalized offers, modern payments, and end-to-end digital travel exists, but our industry is still constrained by decades-old legacy systems—PNRs, paper documents, and disconnected data. These are the invisible barriers standing between us and the ‘what if’ future we all imagine.”
The symposium, hosted by Turkish Airlines, focuses on the business model redesign required to meet evolving consumer expectations. The event’s agenda is shaped by three key digital transformation priorities, which are critical for overcoming inefficiencies and unlocking new value:
Three Pillars of Digital Transformation
Offers and Orders with Modern Accounting: IATA announced that the foundational standards and initial implementations for the shift to a modern retailing model are complete. The next step is a massive effort to move from pilots to full-scale, open-standards adoption. This transformation is set to create significant operational, commercial, and financial value across the entire industry.
Modernizing Payments: Le Borgne stressed that payments are a strategic agenda item, not a back-office detail, noting that the collective cost burden of payments to airlines is US$22 billion. The industry is focusing on scaling solutions like the IATA Financial Gateway (IFG)—including IATA Pay and Easy Pay—alongside digital wallets and biometric payments to drive down costs and enhance customer choice.
Accelerating End-to-End Digital Identity: Building on standards like IATA’s One ID and ICAO’s Digital Travel Credential (DTC), the focus is now on scaling pilot projects into an interoperable global system. IATA pointed to the recently launched Contactless Travel Directory as a tool to help airlines connect with biometric solution providers globally, driving the industry toward the fast, document-free journey passengers want.
Global Passenger Survey Reality Check
The joint symposium kicked off with the release of the 2025 IATA Global Passenger Survey (GPS), which serves as a reality check on industry progress. The GPS results confirm that passengers are already “living digitally” in every other aspect of their lives and expect the same seamless experience in air travel, favoring mobile and digital ID solutions.
Le Borgne concluded by emphasizing the need for cross-functional collaboration. “The challenge we are facing is a business-model redesign that depends on finance, technology, and customer insight working hand in hand,” she said.
The symposium will continue to focus over the next two days on turning this shared vision into execution through global standards and strategic partnerships.
