Airlines Pay More to Process Payments Than They Keep as Profit

New figures from the International Air Transport Association put airlines’ payment costs at $24.5 billion in 2025, against about $1.05 trillion in sales. Direct transaction fees made up $20.7 billion of that total. Payment costs have grown 10.4 percent since 2023, while sales grew 7.7 percent, so the bill for taking money is rising faster than the money itself.

IATA estimates the cost at roughly $5 per passenger in 2025. Its forecast net profit per passenger for 2026 is about $4.50. Those numbers come from different years and are measured differently, so they are not a like-for-like comparison, but they show how thin airline margins are when a card fee can rival the profit on a ticket.

The report also points to a second problem: failed payments. About one in five ancillary purchase attempts, such as seats, bags or upgrades, fails after an initial payment refusal when no alternative method is offered. Those are sales the airline has already persuaded a customer to make, lost at the final step.

For passengers, the pressure shows up in surcharges and in pushes toward cheaper payment routes such as bank transfers and digital wallets. If a payment is declined while you are adding a bag or seat, trying a different card or method is often quicker than retrying the same one, and it may save a fare increase if the price changes before you finish.

Sources: Travel PR News, IATA