Telecom
SeerBit X Sabre: Addressing Payment Challenges in the Airline Industry
Airlines around the world strive to ensure a seamless and convenient travel experience for millions of passengers. However, behind the scenes, these businesses grapple with issues, such as complex payment processes which impact revenue, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
The pressure to meet the ever-rising expectations of customers, as well as other issues, such as high transaction fees, threat of fraud, multi-currency complexities and reconciliation challenges all add up to form giant pain points that airlines have to constantly battle with. These pain points have a detrimental effect on the growth projections for the aviation industry in Africa.
A recent report suggests that the continent’s flights market is expected to generate $14.50 billion in revenue by 2029, with the number of users expected to hit 108.60 million. However, prevailing payment obstacles, aligned with infrastructure deficiencies, high costs and taxation require innovative solutions to transform them into growth opportunities for the aviation industry.
The Complex Payment Landscape for Airlines
As airlines continue to expand globally, payment challenges become increasingly multifaceted, impacting profitability and operational efficiency. These challenges cut across payment-related, operational and regulatory issues.
1. High Transaction Costs
Airlines face a daunting task of managing costs because of the additional substantial expense that high transaction fees and multi-currency handling add. According to a report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), processing fees alone can cost airlines billions annually, cutting directly into profits. Fluctuating currency values and international transaction fees make up a significant part of the costs incurred by global airlines and which impact their bottom line.
2. Revenue Leakage and Payment Fraud
Payment fraud has become a serious risk for airlines worldwide, especially with the rise of digital payments. According to IATA, the aviation industry loses up to 1.2% of its annual revenue to fraud. Fraudulent transactions and other associated risks threaten airline revenue streams, making it essential to have a secure payment infrastructure. For example, without adequate safeguards, airlines can lose significant amounts to credit card fraud, chargebacks, and unauthorised transactions, leading to revenue leakage.
3. Reconciliation Headaches
For global airlines, payment reconciliation across various sales channels, regions and currencies is both error-prone and time-consuming. Every day, airlines process thousands of transactions from sources including online bookings, travel agents and in-flight sales. The large scale volume of these transactions makes it difficult to align the records accurately, leading to discrepancies that impact financial reporting and decision-making.
4. Customer Experience Expectations
Travellers in today’s world expect fast, seamless payment experiences that fit their on-the-move lifestyles. Long queues, payment processing delays or currency incompatibility can sour the customer journey, leading to customer dissatisfaction and decreased loyalty. According to a recent report, over 70% of passengers say they are unlikely to return to an airline if they encounter a negative payment experience.
5. Regulatory Compliance Across Multiple Jurisdictions
Operating globally means airlines must navigate complex and varying regulatory landscapes. Each country enforces its own rules regarding data protection, taxation and financial reporting, creating significant operational challenges. Failure to meet these regulations can lead to hefty fines, operational delays and reputational damage. Managing compliance in every market requires time and resources that detract from an airline’s primary focus on delivering excellent service.
SeerBit & Sabre Partnership: A Strategic Solution for Airlines
Through a recent partnership with Sabre, SeerBit is helping airlines navigate the complexities of the payment ecosystem by addressing key pain points and enhancing operational efficiency.
Here’s how SeerBit and Sabre’s unified solution addresses business pain points and challenges for airlines:
1. Streamlined Payment Processes
With SeerBit, airlines using Sabre can now enjoy a streamlined payment process that optimises the end-to-end transaction cycle, from booking to post-flight purchases. This integration provides real-time payment processing, which reduces the need for manual intervention, and offers airlines an efficient, cost-effective approach to managing global transactions.
2. Multi-Currency and Global Reach Capabilities
SeerBit offers payment solutions that empower airlines on Sabre to receive and manage payments across different regions and multiple currencies seamlessly. SeerBit’s robust support for international currencies and compliance with local regulations ensures that airlines can operate confidently in new markets, meeting regional compliance, while offering a seamless experience to travellers worldwide.
Irrespective of where an airline operates, SeerBit’s multi-currency solutions ensure reduced fees, prevent currency volatility losses and ensure compliance across borders.
3. Advanced Security and Fraud Detection
The strategic partnership between SeerBit and Sabre prioritises security, with fraud detection and prevention features tailored to the unique needs of airlines. Advanced data encryption features safeguard payment channels, drastically reducing the risk of fraud. Airlines can rely on SeerBit to provide a trusted environment for their customers, minimising exposure to fraud and enhancing overall customer trust.
4. Data-Driven Insights and Reporting
Data is invaluable for airlines aiming to optimise their operations. Through SeerBit’s integration with Sabre, airlines can enjoy access to real-time insights that support financial reconciliation and accurate reporting. This solution provides a consolidated view of airline payments, allowing finance teams to make data-backed decisions and identify opportunities to reduce costs or improve efficiency. Further, airlines are in a position to understand customer payment behaviours better, enabling them to tailor their offerings. By analysing payment data, airlines can refine services based on passenger preferences, such as prioritising mobile payment options for younger customers who value speed and simplicity
Key Benefits of SeerBit & Sabre Integration for Airlines
By addressing core payment pain points in the aviation industry, SeerBit and Sabre help airlines achieve operational efficiency, cost savings and enhanced customer loyalty.
1. Increased Revenue and Lowered Costs
By reducing multi-currency fees and eliminating revenue leakage, airlines can experience improved profitability. SeerBit’s solutions help streamline transaction costs, optimise revenue and offer airlines a competitive edge in their pricing strategies.
2. Enhanced Customer Experience
Customers who enjoy seamless and secure payment options are more likely to develop loyalty to an airline. Sabre’s emphasis on great customer experience aligns with SeerBit’s mission to simplify payment interactions, allowing airlines to offer a payment journey that matches their travel excellence goals. With faster, flexible payment options, airlines can boost customer satisfaction and retention rates.
According to IATA’s Global Passenger Survey, around 38% of passengers are dissatisfied with limited payment flexibility, impacting their willingness to book services. Airlines that expanded their payment options to include localised methods, e.g., mobile payments, reported higher customer satisfaction and retention by catering to diverse payment preferences across age groups and regions.
3. Optimised Operational Efficiency
Automation of payment processes and reconciliation reduces manual errors and enhances operational efficiency. SeerBit’s robust reconciliation tools help airlines consolidate transactions from various channels, simplifying financial management and boosting operational productivity.
4. Scalability and Future-Readiness
SeerBit and Sabre’s partnership provides airlines with scalable solutions designed to meet future industry demands. As travel returns to a high post-pandemic, airlines can rely on flexible solutions offered by this strategic partnership to adapt to changing market trends and customer needs, ensuring long-term success.
A Future of Seamless, Secure Airline Payments
Africa is emerging as the next major frontier for air travel. A recent study on emerging markets projects that by 2030, the African aviation industry will experience robust growth, with a compound annual growth rate of 5% to 6% in passenger traffic. This expansion is fueled by urbanisation, a growing middle class and enhanced connectivity. Alongside this growth, African airlines are expected to double their fleet size, contributing over $100 billion to the continent’s GDP and supporting more than 6 million jobs.
To meet these ambitious targets and navigate a complex global market, airlines need payment solutions that are secure, cost-effective, and aligned with evolving customer expectations. SeerBit’s partnership with Sabre Corporation delivers a powerful, integrated payment platform designed to reduce transaction costs, fortify security and enhance the customer experience.
This landmark collaboration empowers decision-makers and stakeholders in African aviation to modernise payment operations, boost efficiency, and unlock new revenue streams. Through this key integration, businesses across the aviation value chain are well-positioned to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape and set new benchmarks for operational excellence.
Learn more on how to unlock the key benefits of the SeerBit X Sabre partnership for airlines here.
Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, yesterday claimed that bandits and terrorists are able to communicate and coordinate their activities with ease because they exploit gaps in the country’s telecommunications network.
Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy,
Tijani, who spoke Politics Today, a Channels Television’s programme, on Friday, Tijani said the criminals exploit gaps in the country’s telecommunications network.
He also claimed the bandits use advanced technology to bounce calls across multiple towers in areas with poor connectivity.
“They weren’t using the normal towers; they bounced calls off multiple towers, which is why they favor areas that are largely unconnected,” he said.
When asked about reports that unregistered or fraudulently registered SIM cards are still in use despite the Bank Verification Number (BVN) and the National Identification Number (NIN)–Subscriber Identity Module linkage policies, Tijani said the issue is technically complex and the reports are not fully verified.
“Whether it’s fact or not, I do not know where you’re getting that from, and I do not know who has evidence that there are people with unregistered SIMs,” he added.
The minister stated that the federal government is investing in telecom towers in underserved regions, upgrading the country’s communication satellites to improve coverage, and expanding fiber-optic networks to strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure.
“If our towers are not working, our satellites will work. Nigeria is the only country in West Africa with communication satellites, and we are bringing new satellites to upgrade their capabilities,” Tijani said.
He added that these initiatives aim to ensure better connectivity for Nigerians while closing loopholes that criminals exploit, thereby enhancing national security.
The minister’s comments come amid rising concerns over insecurity in several parts of the North, where banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism have escalated in recent years.
There are also reports of bandits flaunting ransom payments on social media platforms such as TikTok, raising alarm among authorities and the public
Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, has announced its best-ever results in the MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025 Evaluation.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025 Evaluation
Sophos XDR detected 100% of adversary behaviors (sub-steps)1 across two complex attack scenarios: Scattered Spider, which Sophos X-Ops tracks as GOLD HARVEST, a financially motivated cybercriminal collective, and Mustang Panda, which Sophos X-Ops tracks as BRONZE PRESIDENT, a People’s Republic of China (PRC) espionage group.
The Scattered Spider scenario included activity across Windows, Linux, and AWS cloud environments, and the Mustang Panda scenario focused on Windows only.
Further, Sophos achieved the highest-possible “Technique”-level rating for 86 out of 90 total sub-steps in the evaluation, by generating high-fidelity detections with details on execution, impact, and adversary behavior, providing clear who, what, when, where, how, and why insights.
Sophos XDR achieved:
- 100% detection coverage1 for all 90 adversary sub-steps across two complex attack scenarios across Windows, Linux, and AWS cloud environments
- Highest possible (“Technique”) ratings for 86 of 90 sub-steps, demonstrating deep visibility and actionable detections
- Highest possible (“Technique”) ratings for 61 out of 62 of sub-steps in the Scattered Spider scenario involving identity abuse, cloud exploitation, and data exfiltration
“Scattered Spider and Mustang Panda represent distinct threat profiles that challenge defenders in very different ways,” said Simon Reed, chief research and scientific officer, Sophos. “Achieving full detection coverage against both validates the accuracy and depth of Sophos’ analytics and demonstrates how the company’s AI-native XDR platform converts complex telemetry into clear, actionable intelligence, helping security teams detect, understand, and stop advanced attacks with confidence.
“Sophos’ consistently strong performance in these rigorous evaluations underscores the power and precision of our threat detection and response capabilities, and our commitment to stopping the world’s most sophisticated cyberthreats.
“Over the five years that Sophos has participated in ATT&CK Evaluations, we have continually invested in strengthening our platform, and that investment has translated into stronger results year after year – both in the evaluations, and in the security outcomes we deliver for our customers.”
These results demonstrate the power of the Sophos XDR platform to defend against sophisticated cyber threats. Every day, Sophos processes 223+ terabytes of telemetry in Sophos Central, generating 34+ million detections and automatically blocking 11+ million threats.
This scale of customer insights ensures that Sophos’ detections are being tested and improved to provide continuous protection while delivering stronger outcomes for organizations worldwide.
Understanding The Threat Actors
Sophos X-Ops has tracked GOLD HARVEST (Scattered Spider) since 2022, observing a loosely affiliated cybercriminal collective driven by both financial motives and a desire to elevate their reputations on underground forums.
Despite several arrests, operators and associates continue to launch high-profile attacks across the U.K. and U.S., at times partnering with major Russian-speaking ransomware groups.
Their sophisticated social engineering capabilities enable them to compromise even well-defended organizations, underscoring the importance of strong behavioral detections within modern security operations.
In parallel, Sophos X-Ops has monitored BRONZE PRESIDENT (Mustang Panda) for many years.
This long-running PRC espionage group conducts intelligence-led operations that align closely with priorities of China’s Ministry of State Security. Recent targeting includes activity against Tibetan communities surrounding the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday, as well as intrusions on Thai government and military offices during periods of heightened regional tension.
BRONZE PRESIDENT remains one of the most active and persistent state-aligned threat actors operating today.
MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations are among the world’s most rigorous independent security tests.
They emulate the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by real-world adversaries to assess each participating vendor’s ability to detect, analyze, and articulate threats in alignment with the MITRE ATT&CK Framework.
These evaluations continually strengthen Sophos’ capabilities for the benefit of the organizations it protects. This was the seventh round of MITRE’s “Enterprise” ATT&CK Evaluation, a product-focused assessment designed to help organizations better understand how security operations solutions like Sophos EDR and Sophos XDR can help them defend against sophisticated, multi-stage attacks.
When evaluating EDR or XDR solutions, Sophos recommends reviewing MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations alongside other independent proof points.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday announced plans to partner with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to develop an industry-wide short code for consumers to lodge complaints with financial institutions anytime, anywhere, even without internet access.
CBN
Dr Aisha Isa-Olatinwo, CBN Director, Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion Department, disclosed this at a virtual Consumer Protection Town Hall meeting titled “Ask the Regulator”, organised by Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Advancement (EFInA).
She said the initiative addresses challenges faced by vulnerable consumers using feature phones who often have to visit bank branches physically to report issues amid the convergence of telecom and banking services.
Isa-Olatinwo said the CBN had achieved 94 per cent month-on-month timely resolution of consumer complaints, adding that the apex bank had streamlined processes and partnered with banks to balance consumer protection with financial system stability.
An EFInA poll presented at the event revealed that 61 per cent of respondents experienced failed transactions in the past 12 months, while 26 per cent had reversals within 24 hours and 54 per cent between 24 and 48 hours.
Other complaints included six per cent for fraud, 14 per cent for hidden charges and 15 per cent for poor customer service, with 66 per cent of respondents aware of complaint escalation steps.
President of Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CAFON), Mrs Sola Salako-Ajulo, lamented that consumers often feel unprotected and urged introduction of fraud insurance for instant reversals, shifting the burden of proof from customers.
She said: “What is missing in our system—unlike more developed economies—is fraud insurance, where banks reverse reported fraud immediately, refund consumers, and investigate later.”
Mr Ajibade Laolu-Adewale, Chairman of Committee of e-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH), represented by Mr Adeyemi Salisu, stressed that banks must resolve disputes between acquiring and issuing banks without redirecting customers to merchants.
The short code initiative is expected to enhance financial inclusion by providing accessible redress mechanisms in Nigeria’s evolving digital payment ecosystem.
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