Amadeus, a Madrid-based travel reservations provider, is teaming with Mastercard and Elavon, the payments unit of U.S. Bancorp, to launch a B2B payments plan with Thai Airways and Sweden’s Select Travel, that it said could save 70 percent off normal transaction costs.

Amadeus said the B2B Wallet Partner Pay was a test using Select Travel, a Swedish corporate and consumer travel agency, to pay Thai Airways using a virtual Mastercard account and Elavon acts as the acquiring bank that allows the airline to accept payments from a variety of sources, according to company officials.

Officials said the test could save up to 70% off existing payment methods, including checks and bank transfers.

"The 70% (savings) is based on the entire payment flow between Thai Airways and Select Travel, so the reductions are achieved in part through a reduction in the interchange fee, but also through efficiencies in fraud, cash flow and chargebacks in which all three vendors contribute,"a spokesperson for Amadeus told Mobile Payments Today via email.

The airline should see savings since the transaction is less expensive than other payment methods such as traditional corporate cards. The agency will still receive an agreed upon rebate rate, which can vary depending on the airline as they may use the payments to generate loyalty from travel agencies.

Officials said the plan is to expand the payment system to other parties once the pilot plan is completed.

"We do plan to expand this product to other airlines and agencies based on the success of this trial, as we see that the future of travel payments is through partnership," a spokesperson said.