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Nairobi-based East and Central Africa travel aggregator AfroAtlas and Lufthansa Group have launched a new digital platform to make air travel experience more convenient, efficient and cheaper.

Speaking while addressing the press at Concord Hotel in Parklands, Nairobi, AfroAtlas chief executive Ahmed Ugas said the collaboration with the German carrier to unveil the New Distribution Capability (NDC) platform will help travelers, travel agents and airlines get the best out across all travel services. The platform comes both as a mobile app and web-based for laptop users.

“We are very happy to launch Lufthansa Group NDC for the Eastern Africa market. This is part of our continuous efforts to offer the latest technologies to our travel partners in Africa and beyond,” said Mr Ugas.

Air travellers will now have access to services such as buying flight tickets, comparing fares, changing seats, changing travel date, hotel booking, airport transfers, tour booking, travel insurance, car rentals, holiday packages and visa facilitations right from their smartphones.

“This partnership will greatly benefit customers. Most of the major airlines around the world are now adopting this kind of technology. We are committed to shaping the regional travel industry with distribution and innovation” added Mr Ugas.

Lufthansa Group has five passenger airlines – Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings – which gives AfroAtlas a huge boost as it introduces the platform to local carrier “by the end of this month.”

Mr Melford Ndungu, an account manager for Lufthansa Group said AfroAtlas is the first East African company to make such an agreement and help to deliver this modern technology. He noted that prices available on the AfroAtlas program are cheaper than the other systems used by most travel agents.

“Through this platform, you will save $21 in distribution charges. If you are traveling from Nairobi to London, for instance, you will save $45 in fare. If you want to change seats, you will save $7 per seat in costs. Then you have add-ons such as wifi vouchers, and lounge vouchers,” he said.

Ms Agnes Mucuha, CEO of Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) and Mr. Anthony Ochieng, head of Tour Operators Society of Kenya (TOSK) pledged to work with AfroAtlas in delivering the service to all companies that sell travel and tourism.

“By leveraging technology, we are establishing connections, creating networks and allowing pathways that allow for the free flow of capital and innovation. The backbone of this is enshrined in the delivery of cost containment for travelers and cost efficiencies for the airlines among other benefits,” said Ms Mucuha.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts that passenger volumes in the region will recover by the end of 2022 to hit 116 million travelers and rise to 186 million by 2025.