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For more than 30 years, AirPlus has been a global player in corporate payment. Join us on a journey through time and discover our success story.
In 1989, Lufthansa AirPlus Servicekarten GmbH was founded from a former Lufthansa AG project.
In 1989, AirPlus presented the world's first credit card with a chip. In 1992, the AirPlus Eurocard, a payment solution for all travel expenses, was launched on the market. A year later, AirPlus was the first issuer of a card duo (corporate and travel spend) for frequent travellers.
In 1995, AirPlus pioneered a business travel management
analysis tool, Netto (which later became the well-known AirPlus Information Manager) – to this day considered the standard for evaluating flight expenses.
In 1997, AirPlus became the first provider to merge and analyse data from different credit card providers
In 2001, AirPlus launched individual business travel portals for customers. This enabled travel managers and business travellers to access all information and services from a single source online.
In 2003, a new AirPlus tool went live: the AirPlus Information Manager. This modern online solution enabled the management and analysis of global travel budgets.
By 2005, AirPlus was offering its product range in 28 countries.
In the same year, the virtual credit card solution A.I.D.A. was introduced in the UK.
While AirPlus has been issuing credit cards since 1993, in 2006, AirPlus acquired its own licence and began to issue its own Corporate Card – a major milestone in Germany. AirPlus officially became an independent issuer of credit cards for on-trip expenses.
AirPlus, now a global player, focused on fulfilling its responsibility to the environment with climate-neutral solutions and sustainability initiatives.
From 2007, AirPlus enabled companies to automatically bill and evaluate climate protection contribution. This made it easier than ever for businesses to play their role in climate protection.
In 2010, AirPlus recognised the increasing importance of climate protection. The response? AirPlus Green Reports. This offered companies a flexible solution for quickly and automatically generating transparent reporting for CO2 emissions from business air travel, further simplifying companies’ environmental commitment.
In 2012, AirPlus introduced the AirPlus Green Company Account in Italy – the world’s first complete CO2-neutral travel payment solution. This development marked a major step forward for the sustainable organisation of business travel.
In 2015, AirPlus received the “myclimate Award 2015” at ITB in Berlin for this pioneering work.
Starting in 2016, AirPlus once again refocused its efforts in the European market with further innovative payment solutions for companies.
In 2016, AirPlus joined forces with Airbnb to develop an integrated solution for booking, paying for, and settling business trips. With this, the sharing economy and travel expense management became further integrated, giving business travellers access to the best payment and travel management solutions for over 2.5 million accommodations worldwide.
In 2017, AirPlus acquired Belgian corporate card issuer BCC Corporate, further expanding its position as the leading European provider of corporate credit cards. One year later, AirPlus launched the new European Corporate Card, a uniform card solution for companies in the region.
In 2020, AirPlus expanded its product offering with AirPlus Virtual Cards Procurement – positioning itself as an expert for all corporate payment needs. With the new card product, online and ad hoc purchases of hardware, software licences, office supplies, or online advertising could now be made easily, quickly, and securely.
More than 55,000 corporate customers in 57 countries now rely on AirPlus solutions. Just as always, we are constantly developing our products, thus guaranteeing new, innovative solutions for the future.
In 2022, the AirPlus Company Account (Green Company Account) – which had already been climate-neutral in some markets – was now climate-neutral for all AirPlus markets worldwide.
In 2022, AirPlus unveiled the acceptance of the AirPlus Corporate Card in Apple Pay, enabling secure and confidential payments with iPhone and Apple Watch devices. This made payments for a wide range of services even easier.
With Coupa Pay and the Danish fintech Mazepay, AirPlus gained two strategic partners from the business spend management sector. The cooperation is another important milestone on the way for AirPlus to establish itself as a provider for B2B payments – outside of business travel.
AirPlus is certified as a climate-friendly provider with the Impact Label of the international climate protection organization myclimate. All CO2 emissions have been calculated and a corresponding contribution has been invested into climate protection projects that significantly reduce greenhouse gases.
AirPlus Corporate Cards come to Google Pay, offering convenient, safe, and contactless business travel payments via Android devices. With this, both major mobile wallets are now supported.
Together with SEB Kort, AirPlus will continue its success story and drive forward the digital transformation of the corporate payment industry.
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