DLX Pay & Air Transat in Action

Since going live with DLX Pay, Air Transat has rapidly transformed its payment operations – capturing 6.6% of failed transactions through intelligent, dynamic retry capabilities, successfully onboarded a new payment service provider (PSP) in time for go-live to demonstrate the platform’s agility, and proving DLX Pay’s scalability by processing over $400 million in transactions within the first three months of deployment.
Following the launch of DLX Pay in 2025, Air Transat became the first airline to sign up and go-live with it just months later. A modular, next-generation payment platform designed to improve payment performance and agility, it strengthens operational resilience and delivers greater control to airlines to ultimately enhance the end-to-end customer experience while increasing conversion and revenue opportunities.
The Challenge:
Like many airlines across the globe, Air Transat faced the complexity of managing payments across multiple markets, currencies, and payment methods. Combined with the need to integrate with numerous PSPs, typically at high costs, created a significant challenge. Legacy technology tends to lack the flexibility to quickly onboard new providers, leading to lengthy delivery cycles driving up costs. Additionally, Air Transat experienced limited retry capabilities for failed transactions, restricted visibility of controls and analytics, and a need to support local payment preferences while simultaneously maintaining robust fraud controls.
Solution & Results:
To tackle these challenges, Air Transat implemented DLX Pay for greater control over its payment processes which improved conversion rates, reduced costs, system stability and provided valuable insights through advanced reporting. DLX Pay proved its scalability from the outset, processing over US$400 million in the first 3 months.
  • Dynamic Retries Capturing Lost Revenue
DLX Pay introduced intelligent retry capabilities that were previously unavailable to Air Transat. Over the last three months, this functionality has automatically recovered 6.6% of declined sales by intelligently retrying soft declines from one PSP to be retried with an alternative. This capability works to prevent Air Transat from losing revenue due to failed transactions.
  • No Code Configuration
 With DLX Pay’s configurator and insights dashboard, Air Transat can identify suspected fraudulent activity and optimise fraud prevention and authentication through rule-based flows that trigger appropriate countermeasures. Air Transat can make changes in production via the self-service configuration portal without code changes.
  • Rapid Onboarding new PSPs for Faster Time to Market
With 50+ PSPs already available, DLX Pay drastically accelerates the onboarding of new payment methods and integrations. What previously took months now takes a matter of weeks, meaning reduced complexity and cost and the ability to confidently engage with new and innovative payment methods.
The rapid onboarding of new PSPs was proven at launch when DLX Pay was activated and, at the same time, the platform seamlessly added a new PSP in the background, which went live alongside DLX Pay.
  • More Actionable Insights, More Readily Available
Access to real-time insights in the DLX Pay Configurator, DLX Pay’s dedicated no-code dashboard, offers a consolidated view of payment performance across providers and markets. This enhanced visibility has shifted Air Transat’s approach to managing payments from a reactive function to a proactive, data-driven strategy leading to continuous optimisation and informed decision-making.
Additionally, Air Transat can use the DLX Pay Configurator to implement new payment routing rules or adjust existing ones without any development resources. Through the insight portal, Air Transat can easily identify fraudulent transactions and associated amounts. Likewise, the dashboard delivers data and analytics that are not available from PSPs alone, enabling deeper analysis and more effective troubleshooting.
Future Capabilities & Roadmap:
Building on the initial success, Air Transat and Datalex have a strong roadmap in place for the coming 12 months. Key areas of focus which can be achieved with minimal investment:
  • Adding further Forms of Payments and exploring new Payment Connectors
  • Evolving the usage of Dynamic Routing to further optimise costs
  • Driving down fraud levels using Dynamic Routing driven by insights
  • Exploring Network Tokens to improve authorisation rates
Conclusion
Activating DLX Pay has transformed Air Transat’s payment operations, driven improved performance and restored control of its payment ecosystem, all while reducing complexities and operational costs. With enhanced visibility, intelligent retry and routing capabilities, and the ability to rapidly onboard new PSPs, Air Transat is positioned to flexibly and continuously respond to evolving customer and market demands. The scalability and future-focus of DLX Pay means Air Transat can continue to deliver a seamless and secure customer experience while being at the forefront of payment innovations.
“DLX Pay has improved significantly the way we manage payments on Air Transat.com, giving us much greater control, flexibility, and visibility. Intelligent retry capabilities are helping us recover revenue that was previously lost, while the ability to rapidly onboard new PSPs enables us to optimise costs, increase conversion, and ultimately deliver a seamless booking experience for our passengers.” said Bamba Sissoko, CIO at Air Transat.
“We developed DLX Pay to address the challenges that airlines face on a day-to-day basis when it comes to payments. Seeing the immediate results achieved by Air Transat after go-live – from revenue recovered from successful retries to rapid scalability – demonstrates the power of an airline-specific payment orchestration platform to drive growth. DLX Pay empowers Air Transat with the control, agility, and insights required to elevate the customer experience and adapt quickly to market changes” said Jonathan Rockett, CEO of Datalex.

Dublin Portal expands to include 2 cities in Poland and Lithuania

Dublin City Council is delighted to announce that 2 extra cities have been added to the Portal.

So now as well as connecting with New York, people on North Earl St will be able to see Vilnius in Lithuania and Lublin in Poland.

The livestreams will rotate every 180 seconds, beginning from today and forming a global network.

“The Portal in Dublin has attracted over 340,000 visitors since its launch in May and has brought a new lease of life to North Earl Street,” said the Lord Mayor of Dublin, James Geoghegan. “We are delighted to see the network of cities expand to Vilnius and Lublin and look forward to seeing more people enjoy the Portals experience.”

The Vilnius Portal is positioned adjacent to the city’s central station, and the Lublin Portal is located on the central city square, Litewski Square. “We are delighted today to welcome Dublin and New York – the next cities to join this unique project. We are excited that our Portal is growing in reach and popularity, opening up unlimited opportunities for communication and collaboration on an international scale. Thanks to the installation, we can now peek into New York’s Manhattan and Dublin’s city centre, share culture, experiences and initiate new projects together” said Beata Stepaniuk-Kuśmierzak, Deputy Mayor of the City of Lublin for Culture, Sport and Participation.

Having been at the centre of global media attention, Portals have emerged as iconic landmarks, generating billions of online impressions and attracting an average of 25,000 weekly visitors onsite in Dublin. On the Flatiron South Plaza in New York City, foot traffic surged by 47% over the 2023 monthly average.

Previously connected in pairs (NYC to Dublin, and Vilnius to Lublin) the sculptures have fostered diverse interactions across the cities, including vibrant dance competitions, cultural performances and successful marriage proposals. This next chapter of the Portals journey realizes the original mission of the project by evolving from two-city connections to a first-of-its-kind, global artwork that invites people from multiple countries to meet in a spirit of unity.

“We can discover how similar we all are through the use of portals, which connect us to a shared network that brings people from different places and cultures closer together. I hope that this idea, which originated in Lithuania, will continue to grow and connect the entire world, allowing people to better understand each other.” said Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of the Economy and Innovation of Lithuania

We are thrilled to finally connect all four Portal sculptures together,” said Benediktas Gylys, founder and artist of portals.org. “The Portals mission is about building multiple Portals, which together form a global entity – a bridge to a united planet that invites people of distant cultures to meet above borders, differences and narratives. It took us eight years to arrive at this special day and we are grateful for the consistent support from our partners in Dublin, New York City, Vilnius, and Lublin. The current four Portals form the foundation of a network that will expand later this year, bringing Portals to even more countries around planet Earth.” 

Visitors to the Portals will be able to meet each other in real time across four different time zones and engage in this global artwork. The network rotation is active daily from 1pm to 8pm in Dublin/ 8am to 3pm in NYC/ 2pm to 9pm in Lublin / 3pm to 10pm in Vilnius. More Portal locations are being added to the network later this year.

Portal Connecting Dublin and New York City Reawakens

Dublin City Council, Portals.org and the Flatiron NoMad are pleased to announce that the Portal connecting New York City and Dublin has reawakened.  The livestream restarted today at 9:00 AM in New York City and 2:00 PM in Dublin, after a temporary pause earlier this week.

The Portal will have specific hours of operation for the coming weeks with the livestream running daily from 6:00 AM to 4:00 PM in New York City and 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM in Dublin.

In less than a week of operation, the Portal has attracted tens of thousands of visitors and garnered nearly two billion online impressions. The overwhelming majority of people who have visited the Portal sculptures have experienced the sense of joy and connectedness that these works of public art invite people to have.

The Portal sculptures are not meant to be touched or stepped upon. We have taken steps to limit instances of people stepping on the Portal and holding phones up to the camera lens. The Portals.org team has implemented a proximity-based solution. Now, if individuals step on the Portal and obstruct the camera, it will trigger a blurring of the livestream for everyone on both sides of the Atlantic. The team will continue making updates as needed to ensure that everyone can continue to enjoy the Portal.

The New York site will continue to have on-site security during all hours of operation, as it has had since the Portal debuted. Additionally, fencing has been installed in front of the New York Portal and more signage and spacing decals have been added to assist with crowd management and guide visitors to the optimal spots for interacting with the Portal.

For the Dublin site, physical design features are being implemented to assist with crowd management.

We are excited to welcome people in New York and Dublin back to experience this captivating visual bridge that connects these two iconic cities.

Portals.org artist and founder Benediktas Gylys added the following:

“As humans we are creating the Portals experience together. I invite local communities not only to enjoy but to care about their Portals and how other community members are approaching the sculptures.”

This is a joint statement from Dublin City Council, Portals.org and the Flatiron NoMad Partnership.

Portal Art Installation will connect Dublin to New York in Real-Time

A ground breaking public art installation known as ‘The Portal’ is set to form a visual bridge between New York City and Dublin, launching this May.

‘The Portal’ installation is part of programme of events that will be taking place as part of Dublin’s recent designation as European City of Smart Tourism 2024. The official handover will take place this evening in the CHQ in Dublin city-centre.

Conceived by Lithuanian artist and entrepreneur Benediktas Gylys, these Portals are an invitation to meet fellow humans in a way that transcends borders and differences to experience our world as it really is – united and one. The livestream of Portals provides a window between distant locations, allowing people to meet outside of their social circles and cultures.

‘The Portal’ in Dublin will be installed facing the capital’s main street, O’Connell Street and will capture the iconic vista of both Dublin’s famous GPO building and the Spire together offering the public a real-time, visual livestream that connects these two iconic cities.

In New York City, the Portal will be installed on the Flatiron South Public Plaza at Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street, next to the famed Flatiron Building, and will be presented by the Flatiron NoMad Partnership in collaboration with the New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program (NYC DOT Art) and the Simons Foundation.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daithí de Róiste announced the partnership, highlighting its importance as Dublin embraces the title of European Capital of Smart Tourism 2024:

“As we celebrate our official handover for the EU Capital of Smart Tourism designation, the Portals project symbolises Dublin’s commitment to connecting not just within the EU but also with cities like New York, which we share a deep historical and cultural bond with. This project exemplifies the fusion of technology and engineering to bring communities from across the world closer together. One of our key objectives in Dublin is to improve innovation in tourism through a number of initiatives, and this project is an example of the exciting things to expect during 2024 and beyond.” 

James Mettham, President of the Flatiron NoMad Partnership in NY commented:

We are honoured to host the Portal’s North American debut on the Flatiron Public Plazas, at one of New York City’s most dynamic intersections. This real-time connection between two iconic public spaces in global cities on either side of the Atlantic will bring people together, both physically and digitally, becoming a captivating attraction for New Yorkers and visitors alike.

Ya-Ting Liu, New York City Chief Public Realm Officer commented on the importance of the collaborative installation: 

“Two amazing global cities, connected in real time and space. That is something you do not see every day! We are so excited to have The Portal as a public interactive art installation, showcasing the vibrancy of our city streets and providing a new point for human connection between New Yorkers and Dubliners.  We thank the City of Dublin, NYC DOT Art Program, the Flatiron NoMad Partnership, and the Simons Foundation for bringing this vision to life.” 

Benediktas Gylys, shared his perspective on the project’s significance:

“Portals aim to be a bridge to a united planet. I am grateful to the cities of Dublin and New York for pioneering innovation and welcoming their Portal sculptures, which is a significant milestone after years of work. From the initial two cities of Vilnius, Lithuania and Lublin, Poland, Portals are now expanding to be a global network. This is just the beginning and our team will continue bringing Portals to large cities and little towns of planet Earth.”

The ‘Portal’ New York City and Dublin Ireland connection will be from spring 2024 through the Autumn of the same year.  In addition to the real-time connection, there will be scheduled programming, including cultural performances at each city’s Portal that will be enjoyed by people in the other city via the livestream. Programming will kick-off in mid-May with a visual program to celebrate the New York Design Week Festival.

‘The Portal’ is made possible through the collaborative efforts of Dublin City Council, the EU Capital of Smart Tourism, Flatiron NoMad Partnership, Simons Foundation, DOT Art, and portals.org team.  Their support and dedication have been instrumental in bringing this visionary project to life.

For more information and to find out what’s happening and will be taking place in Dublin for the 2024 European Capital of Smart Tourism visit here.