Amazon India Now Sells Airline Tickets

Amazon Pay in India, which already allows customers to do things like pay bills and borrow money, has added the ability to book airline tickets, according to reports.

The eCommerce giant has partnered with local travel company Cleartrip to add the option. Customers will receive a one-time cash-back bonus of up to $28.20 the first time they use the new feature, which is available on the Indian website and app.

India is one of Amazon’s fastest growing markets, and the company regularly tests out new ideas in the country. Amazon Pay users can use the service to pay for electricity, phone and cable bills, and the company also recently introduced P2P money transfers. There are also plans to allow for the ordering of food from restaurants.

In 2018, Amazon rolled out support for Hindi on its India apps and on the website. Kishore Thota, Amazon India’s director of customer experience and marketing, said at the time that the move was necessary to reach new customers in the country and continue to expand. “The next 100 million customers will have to be in the vernacular language,” Thota said.

Amazon is not shy when it comes to partnerships. It has made deals with BookMyShow, a movie ticketing site; Swiggy, a food delivery startup and redBus, a bus ticketing service. The company offers cash-back incentives to encourage use of these services.

Many app makers in the country are taking a wholesale approach in an attempt to be all-encompassing. Paytm, for example, has added many financial services, including credit cards, and ride-hailing company Ola also has a credit card. Spam call stopping app Truecaller recently added messaging and payment features. Paytm has also partnered with Zomato for a potential food ordering option.

Amazon wants to help Cleartrip expand in the country, as it is in competition with sites like Google, Booking.com, Paytm and MakeMyTrip. However, users of those sites are directed to actual ticketing websites to finish airline ticket transactions.