Kenya Airways (KQ) customers will now be able to buy their tickets through the M-Pesa service. In a partnership deal with Safaricom, Kenya Airways will use the 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-centres and website (www.kenya-airways.com) for both regional and domestic flights.  

A registered M-Pesa user who is buying a ticket of less or equal to Ksh 35,000 (US$ 460) 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 their reservations, which cost less than or equal to Ksh 35, 000 inclusive of taxes, they will be 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. In the case of a Website, a customer will be expected to log onto www.kenya-airways.com; buy a ticket that is less than or equal to Kshs 35,000 inclusive of taxes; then use the booking reference number to make payment through Mpesa. KQ will confirm the receipt of payment in the web portal provided by Safaricom and will send both an SMS and an e-mail 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. “Our customers 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. The convenient service will have no extra charges but will ease payments for the clients: “It can be used to book flights while in Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa, to East Africa destinations, amongst others, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Kigali and Bujumbura, said Mr Chandra.   Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph said the partnership with Kenya Airways will offer customers a convenient and dependable way of paying for their local and domestic 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.