SINGAPORE, May 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AirPlus International, a leading global provider of payment and billing solutions for business travel, ended its financial year 2017 with positive figures. The issuing volume rose to 15.3 billion euros, an increase of 9 percent compared to the previous year.
Revenues also rose in the past year. In 2017, AirPlus generated revenues of 313 million euros, an increase of 8 percent in comparison to 2016. The increase in revenues is explained by the adjustment of the 2016 results for special effects. Germany continues to be the global company's strongest market, followed by France, Italy and China. At the same time, AirPlus was able to win over 2,000 new corporate customers and now serves over 51,000 customers worldwide.
AirPlus continues on growth course
A clear growth driver in the past fiscal year was the successful integration of BCC Corporate, a Belgian-based issuer of Visa and Mastercard® company cards, acquired in May 2017. "We showed a strong performance in 2017. With our core products and the acquisition of BCC Corporate last year, we were able to achieve significant volume growth," comments Patrick W. Diemer, CEO of AirPlus International. "This shows that our growth strategy is paying off."
In addition to the Company Account with an increase of 6 percent and the Corporate Card with an increase of 20 percent, the virtual credit card solution AirPlus A.I.D.A. Virtual Cards again showed a strong increase in turnover. Revenue from virtual credit cards rose by 29 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year. "The continuing strong demand for AirPlus A.I.D.A. Virtual Cards shows in which direction professional payment solutions for business travel will develop in the coming years. Every payment must be as simple as possible and thus practically invisible to the traveler himself," comments Patrick W. Diemer. "Our challenge for the coming years is to successfully combine the increasing compliance requirements in companies with the demands of employees for maximum simplicity.
AirPlus International relies on sustainable technologies
The prerequisite for a quasi invisible handling of travel costs in accordance with the company's own compliance requirements is highest data quality. AirPlus is already using the first approaches of "Machine Learning". Preconfigured algorithms are used to automatically clean up and -- where necessary -- supplement transaction data. This approach optimizes invoicing and thus leads to significantly higher efficiency in travel cost management for companies.
At the same time, AirPlus International is realizing the largest transformation in the company's history to date with the conversion of today's IT landscape by the end of 2019. The modernized IT structure lays the foundation for the company's further product and service development. With the restructuring AirPlus International will introduce a European Corporate Card Solution and thus be able to offer customers an integrated payment solution for a total of 19 European markets.
About AirPlus International:
AirPlus is a leading international provider of solutions for the day-to-day management of business travel. 51,000 corporate customers count on AirPlus for the payment and analysis of their business trip costs. Products and services are marketed worldwide under the AirPlus International brand. The AirPlus Company Account is the most successful central bill account based on UATP. More information is available at www.airplus.com.
