Emirates Expands Access to Global Travel with Cellulant-Powered Flexible Payments

One of the world's most recognized airlines, Emirates, has developed an easy and secure payment system, which is the first of its kind in Kenya, through a strategic partnership with one of Africa's fintech companies, Cellulant.

This new feature is embraced by Cellulant’s payment gateway, Tingg, which allows Kenyan customers to complete airline ticket purchases using multiple payment methods by overcoming limitations in mobile money systems that typically restrict high-value transactions. 

In the words of Michael Muriuki, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Cellulant, “With hundreds of millions of Africans relying on mobile money as their preferred way to pay, this extends convenience to global travel payments,” He continued by saying that the new feature enables users to complete high-value transactions without being prevented by daily or transaction limits that are compatible with mobile wallets.

With a variety of payment options, including local credit and debit cards, mobile banking, and mobile money, Kenyans can easily book flights on the Emirates website. In particular, resolving the issue of high-value purchases like foreign airplane tickets, which are sometimes restricted by transaction limits on digital wallets, customers can now spread their cost access up to five different ways by issuing an online payment and completing up to four further installments within a day. 

The initiative builds on Emirates' long-standing partnership with Cellulant, which offers financing and payment solutions to customers in 14 African countries, including South Africa, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. The split-payment feature was initially introduced in Kenya and is expected to be extended to other African countries in the coming months to further enhance accessibility for smartphone users around the continent.