April 8, 2014, Seoul – STMicroelectronics (ST), a global semiconductor company contributing to customers across a wide range of electronic applications, announced that it has integrated its powerful and flexible secure microcontrollers into airline mileage cards that are growing into their own ecosystem. Qantas, Australia's leading airline, is providing customers with the latest mileage cards equipped with ST secure microcontroller chipsets to assist with airport check-in for passengers and baggage, as well as purchase transactions in various currencies, which Qantas calls 'travel money'.

ST has been collaborating as a card and tag partner since 2010, when Qantas Airlines first introduced a next-generation mileage card to launch unmanned check-in and automated baggage drop-off using RFID tags. With the addition of cash card functionality late last year, travel and purchasing features have been integrated into a single card, creating a powerful ecosystem. This ecosystem is defined by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the goal of "simplifying the aviation business," and it also includes partner functions to enable access to services and features provided by aviation industry partners based on an integrated membership in the future.

The Qantas Cash-Card is a highly flexible travel tool that boasts nine virtual wallets capable of supporting up to nine currencies to assist you when visiting multiple countries. You can select one of the nine currencies to instantly exchange or transfer funds.

This card utilizes a proprietary dual subsystem to protect user data and assets. EMV, a collective term for EuroPay, MasterCard, and Visa, is a system in which the credit card function is handled by EMV, while the Loyalty Kernel handles check-in and partner functions. Using this method requires a high level of EMV certification, which ensures that the card applet maintains card security and EMV operations.

Francois Guibert, Senior Vice President and General Manager for China and South Asia at ST, said, “ST’s security products provided to Qantas in collaboration with America’s Banknote (ABnote) fully encompass the goal of the IATA 2020 Vision to streamline and control the flow of passengers, baggage, goods, and information across the entire air travel infrastructure,” adding, “ST’s technology will further enhance the experience at every stage of a traveler’s journey.”