“Can Turkish Airlines transform from a flag carrier into the financial and retailing operating system for global travel by owning the payment, insurance, and loyalty layers across the entire passenger journey?”
Turkish Airlines, founded as Turkey's national flag carrier, has evolved from pure aviation into an embedded-finance and travel-retailing platform. The creation of TKPAY — a regulated fintech subsidiary holding EMI, payment institution, and open banking licenses — signals a strategic move to own the financial layer of the travel journey (wallets, refunds, loyalty currency, open banking rails). Simultaneously, the airline has productized ancillary revenue through embedded insurance (Cover Genius/XCover), a proprietary NDC distribution platform (TKCONNECT), and Apple Pay / Google Pay checkout integrations, positioning Turkish Airlines not just as a carrier but as a travel-commerce infrastructure operator.
Turkish Airlines processes payments through Apple Pay (self-operated checkout integration) and Google Pay (self-operated checkout integration).
Turkish Airlines's embedded insurance is provided by Covergenius.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Turkish Airlines's stack: Payments / PSP (Apple Pay (self-operated checkout integration) and Google Pay (self-operated checkout integration)); Insurance (Covergenius).
Turkish Airlines is founded in 1933 and headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Turkish Airlines and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.