Berlin, March 18, 2026
During the prestigious MPE Awards gala ceremony, part of the annual merchant payments ecosystem (MPE 2026) conference, Air Europa & Hands In was announced as the winner in the "Chairman’s award: merchant payments initiative of the year" category.
According to the criteria, in the "Chairman’s award: merchant payments initiative of the year" category:
This award recognises the most outstanding, innovative, and impactful initiative led by a merchant (either independently or in partnership with a PSP, fintech, or other ecosystem player) that has transformed the merchant’s payments experience, operations, or customer engagement.
The winning initiative should demonstrate measurable improvements in efficiency, customer experience, revenue, risk management, or sustainability, and must exemplify leadership, creativity, and resilience in the face of evolving market challenges. The award is open exclusively to merchants, who may submit on their own or jointly with a key payments partner.
This award goes to “Air Europa & Hands In”.
“The Chair and Co-Chair chose this initiative as the clear winner because it is a textbook example of merchant-led payments transformation in a high-stakes environment. Air Europa refused to accept insufficient- funds declines as an inevitable cost and, with Hands In, turned them into a powerful recovery moment. What particularly impressed was the elegance of the embedded split-payments model, its PSP-agnostic integration, and the sheer scale of live, measurable results. This perfectly embodies what the Chairman’s Award is meant to celebrate.”
- Neira Jones, the chairman of the MPE 2026 awards judging panel
“We’re proud to win the Chairman’s Award at MPE Berlin with Air Europa. This isn’t just a win, it’s proof that split payments are moving from edge case to essential, driving real revenue and fixing one of the biggest gaps in checkout.”
- The Hands In Team
About Hands In
Hands In is a payment solutions company enabling split, multi-method, and multi-payer transactions. Built for the travel industry, its technology helps merchants recover declined transactions, reduce cart abandonment, and increase conversion by allowing payments across multiple cards and payment methods in a single checkout experience.
About the MPE conference
Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE) is Europe's largest merchant payments conference, exhibition, and community focused on card acquiring, alternative payments, merchant services, POS, mobile, and online payment acceptance.
MPE connects merchants, acquirers, PSPs, payment processors, schemes, regulators, gateways, POS HW/SW solution providers, innovative fintech, and all other parties active in the payment acceptance ecosystem.
www.merchantpaymentsecosystem.com
About the MPE Awards 2026
The MPE Awards honour companies and individuals driving innovation in merchant payment acceptance. Established in 2010, they remain the only European awards recognising excellence in card acquiring, processing, PSP services, and emerging payment technologies.
The MPE Awards statuette, exclusively crafted in a limited series each year, is designed this year by renowned Slovak sculptor Pavol Dubina. The organic bronze and gold-plated sculpture reflects the "guiding hand" theme.
To see a complete list of the MPE Awards winners & winners‘ interviews, please visit:
www.merchantpaymentsecosystem.com/awards
For media inquiries, please contact:
Natalia Ivanis | natalia.ivanis@merchantpaymentsecosystem.com
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