Airline, bank reach for the sky with e-money

E-MONEY - JAKARTA. Low-cost carrier Citilink Indonesia, a subsidiary of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, has collaborated with state-owned lender Bank Mandiri to launch co-branding electronic money (e-money) to ease transactions for its customers.

Citilink Indonesia business director Andy Adrian said the company was the first Indonesian airliner to utilize its own e-money, adding that it would only be offered to passengers during flights.

“This shows Citilink Indonesia’s support towards the government’s national non-cash movement program to provide ease of transactions and to add value for our customers,” he said on Thursday.

The program was launched in August 2014 to increase public awareness about non-cash transactions.

Andy said passengers could use the product in Bank Mandiri’s 30,000 merchant partners and top up the product without any charge through Bank Mandiri’s e-channel, including ATMs, online banking and a special smartphone app.

Passengers would be able to use the product for various flight-related transactions, such as ticket purchases, in-flight meals and beverages as well as payment of charges for excess baggage.

Bank Mandiri’s distribution director, Hery Gunardi, said the partnership with Citilink was part of the lender’s strategy to boost its e-money business.

As of August, the number of e-money with Mandiri’s logo had reached more than 10 million cards with transaction volume exceeding 300 million valued at Rp 3.4 trillion (US$251.5 million).