This week has seen yet another airline announce an alliance with a telecoms company with the news that Kenya Airways has signed a strategic partnership with Kenyan operator Safaricom.
Said to be aimed at driving innovations that will enhance the airline’s operational efficiency, strengthen cybersecurity, and elevate the customer experience, the partnership will focus on enhancing connectivity, in-flight Wi-Fi, infrastructure inspection, security surveillance, loyalty programmes, data science, software development, and aviation innovation in areas such as agriculture.
The companies will also collaborate in developing and implementing Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for warehousing, baggage tracking, aircraft materials and ULD, to cover tracking, location, reconciliation and stock taking.
ULD, or unit load device, is a container used to load luggage, freight and mail on wide-body aircraft and specific narrow-body aircraft.
This alliance seems to be inspired in part by Kenya Airways’ Fahari Innovation Hub, which the airline describes as is a one‐of‐a‐kind centre of aviation innovation excellence in Africa that facilitates creative and collaborative ways of providing much‐needed solutions to business problems.
This problem-solving includes facilitating partnerships between Kenya Airways and other stakeholders in the aviation and technology sectors, including universities, research institutions and tech companies.
This announcement follows news of a number of other recent alliances in which telecommunications is being used to enhance operational efficiency in the airline business.
They include a new strategic partnership between Indonesian telecoms service provider Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison with Garuda Indonesia, and another involving Middle Eastern operator Ooredoo and Qatar Airways.
