Thursday, December 3, 2009…Kenya Airways has partnered with telecoms operator Safaricom to offer its money transfer service M-PESA as a ticket payment solution for its customers.

The M-PESA service will be used on both Kenya Airways call-centers and website; www.kenya-airways.com for both regional and domestic flights.

This is in line with Kenya Airways strategy of offering a warm, caring and friendly service in a uniquely African way that supports our leadership position as “The Pride of Africa”

“A customer will now be able to pay for all domestic and some regional flights by M-PESA by simply dialing the Kenya Airways call-centre or by logging onto www.kenya-airways.com,” said Kenya Airways Commercial Director, Mohan Chandra.

This is a convenient service at no extra charge, offering convenience and ease of payment to our valued customers. “It can be used to book flights while in Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Kigali and Bujumbura, said Mr. Chandra.

Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph welcomed the partnership with Kenya Airways, saying it would offer customers a convenient and dependable way of paying for their local and regional international flights. The service also fits in with Safaricom’s strategy of increasing data usage and application for customer convenience as it diversifies its revenue base and evolves into a total telecoms operator.

“This partnership is a great development for us as we move M-PESA from merely being a money transfer service into facilitating e-commerce. With this new service, customers will now be able to pay for their flights from wherever they are in a secure, convenient and fast manner,” said Mr. Joseph.

Following the partnership, KQ joins a growing number of organizations that are already using M-PESA’s PayBill option to receive payments.  

A Kenyan registered M-PESA user who is buying a ticket of less or equal to Ksh35,000 inclusive of all taxes or changing a reservation of less than or equal to the same amount will be able to use this service.

When customers call to make a reservation which costs less than or equal to Kshs. 35,000 inclusive of all taxes, they are given the M-PESA payment option. If they agree to this payment method, customers will be given the booking reference number, ticket value in Kenya shillings inclusive of taxes and the business number via SMS.

A customer will then use this booking reference number to make payment through M-PESA using the business number 777777 and thereafter gets a KQ confirmation receipt of payment in the Web Portal provided by Safaricom.

KQ then sends SMS with a valid ticket number and an e-ticket is sent.

In the case of a Website, a customer logs onto www.kenya-airways.com; buys a ticket that is less than or equal to Kshs. 35,000 inclusive of taxes; then uses the booking reference number to make payment through MPESA.

KQ confirms receipt of payment in the Web Portal provided by Safaricom and sends both SMS and email with e-ticket to the customer.

The transaction time limit is at least 10 minutes. The refunds and reversals will be made to the number that sends the funds to Kenya Airways.

Notes to the Editor 

About Kenya Airways:

Since its inception in 1977, Kenya Airways has grown immensely and today serves up to three million passengers annually and flies to 47 destinations, including 39 cities across Africa and to Amsterdam, Paris and London and select destinations in Asia, including Dubai, Mumbai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

In addition to a modern fleet of 26 aircraft, Kenya Airways is also a major employer with a workforce of over 4,200 and a member of the SkyTeam, one of the largest airline alliances in the world.  

About M-PESA

Safaricom’s M-PESA service was launched in partnership with Vodafone in March 2007. It is the first commercial mobile money transfer system anywhere in the world. Designed to answer to the needs of the unbanked and people outside the formal financial system, this trailblazing innovation has had phenomenal success, to global acclaim.

According to the latest figures, M-PESA serves a growing clientele of over seven million subscribers through an agency network estimated at over 12,000. It has handled over Kshs230 billion in person-to-person transfers since launch, while the monthly cash flow has reached Kshs20 billion.