Digital payments company Stripe has partnered with Alaska Airlines to offer contactless payments for in-flight purchases, according to a press release last Thursday.
The partnership will allow crew members of the Seattle, Washington-based airline to accept payments via tech giant Apple’s tap-to-pay functionality on company-issued iPhones already being used by flight attendants.
Stripe, which has dual headquarters in Dublin and San Francisco, said this is the first time that an airline will use Apple’s contactless payments feature across an entire fleet of planes, according to the release.
“Our partnership to introduce in-flight contactless payments keeps unnecessary hardware on the tarmac,” Stripe Chief Revenue Officer Eileen O’Mara said in the release. Prior to the Stripe partnership, crew members could only accept payments on a separate card-swiping device, the release said.
The new contactless payments are currently available on select Alaska Airlines flights and will become available across the entire fleet “in the next few months,” according to the release.
Stripe made an additional move in the air travel industry last Thursday. London Gatwick Airport announced that it would use the payments company to power parking payments for its roughly 40,000 parking spaces, according to a Finextra report.
Stripe, which is privately held, reported processing about $817 billion in total payments volume last year, according to a Stripe letter released in April.
Stripe and Alaska Airlines did not immediately respond to questions about the roll-out of contactless payments for in-flight purchases.
