The digitalization of airline services has grown exponentially over the last two years. As customers and passengers become accustomed to using digital platforms for flight services, airlines are enhancing the interfaces, products and services they offer to customers.
As airlines in Africa begin to redefine intra-African travel, they are also incorporating digital enhancements across their services.
Safer and more reliable data tracking
Primarily, airlines in Africa adopted digital tools such as IATA’s Travel Pass and the African Union’s Trusted Travel Pass, as airlines and regulatory bodies around the world explore ways to implement safer and more reliable tracking for passenger vaccination data.
African airlines such as RwandAir, EgyptAir, Kenya Airways, and Ethiopian Airlines were among the first carriers in the continent to implement these digital tools.
These tools were used to efficiently monitor testing and vaccination data, boost confidence in enabling unrestricted travel for vaccinated passengers, re-open borders without quarantine and resume aviation services.
IATA’s Travel Pass is a mobile application that helps travelers store and manage their verified certifications for COVID-19 tests or vaccines. This tool eliminates the need for more conventional and arduous paper-driven processes. The Travel Pass was widely adopted across the global aviation industry with major airlines implementing the tool into their passenger travel procedures.
Introduced in the form of digital COVID-19 vaccine certificates, 52 countries, which accounts for 56% of global air travel, used these vaccines certificates in October 2021. However, IATA indicates that these stats have expanded to 74 countries, representing 85% of global traffic as of November 2021.
Similarly, the African Union and Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) launched the Trusted Travel Platform, a platform that…