East Africa: EAC in Bid to Reduce Cost of Air Travel

The East African Community (EAC) will this financial year prioritise harmonisation of air charges and taxes in a bid to reduce the cost of intra-EAC air travel, according to Mr Adan Mohamed, the Council of Ministers chairperson.

While reading the EAC 2021/22 budget, Mr Mohamed, who is also Kenya’s Minister for EAC, said the civil aviation and airports sub-sector, although there has been some delays, will focus on implementation of the EAC Upper Airspace Seamless Operations earmarked under the 2017-22 project.

During this financial year, he said, the region will implement strategies that seek to reduce the cost of intra-EAC air tickets and air operations.

This, Mr Mohamed noted, will be achieved through harmonisation of air travel related charges and tax regimes, which feed into the price of air travel.

EAC has one of the most expensive flight routes, with Entebbe-Nairobi taking the lead.

However, despite the high cost, air travel within East Africa has been growing, rising by 3.4 per cent in the past decade against a global rate of 5.5 per cent.

It is estimated that 43 per cent of air ticket prices in EAC comprise of regulatory charges and taxes, with regulatory fees accounting for up to 24 per cent.

According to a research commissioned by the East African Business Council about air liberalisation, it was found that harmonisation could lead to a reduction in air fares by 9 per cent.

The reduction, the report noted, would lead to a 41 per cent increase in frequencies, which in turn will stimulate passenger demand.

Mr Mohamed said to achieve this, EAC states must commit to implement the Yamoussoukro Decision as part of the Common Market Protocol, which is in line with efforts by the African Union Commission and the African Civil Aviation Commission to operationalise the Single African Air Transport Market.

Responding to the planned harmonisation, Captain Francis Babu, a renowned aviation expert, said regional flights should be considered as domestic, with an opportunity to be given particular subsidies.

Captain Babu also noted that all countries within the region institute different taxes on air ticket, noting there was need to standardise all these into one tax payable at a single port.

Expensive

According to Captain Babu, between Entebbe and Nairobi a ticket goes for an average of $380 (Shs1.3m) while between Entebbe and Dar es Salaam a flight costs between $400 and $500 (Shs1.4m and Shs1.7m) for economy class, which is slightly expensive for an ordinary traveler.

Source: The Monitor

Most COVID-19 Vaccines Donated to African Countries Are Not Authorised Under EU Travel Passport

Africa Centres for Disease and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the African Union (AU) have expressed their concern after it has been revealed that the EU Digital COVID Passport does not recognise the vaccine doses that were donated to numerous African countries through the COVAX initiative.

The EU COVID pass only recognises the AstraZeneca doses, also branded as Vaxzevria produced by European Medicines Agency (EMA) manufacturers in Europe, China, South Korea, and the US among the doses donated in Africa, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

In contrast, the vaccine doses made by the largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, also known as Covishield, which has been categorised as the backbone of the contribution from the COVAX initiative to countries with low and medium-income will not be recognised.

Nonetheless, Estonia, Spain, Iceland, Slovenia, and Greece are the EU countries that have confirmed that they recognise Covishield vaccine certificates despite the Commission’s decision not to. Several other countries, Austria, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland, reportedly also accept this vaccine, but no official announcement has been made by the authorities of these countries.

“In the EU, the vaccine called Covishield does not currently have a marketing authorisation. Even though it may use an analogous production technology to Vaxzevria, Covishield as such is not currently approved under EU rules. This is because vaccines are biological products,” EMA stated.

Regarding the matter, EMA stated that the agency is not to be held accountable for any of the decisions related to COVID-19 vaccination status and the travelling restrictions for those wishing to travel to the EU.

In addition, the agency noted that since the smallest differences in the manufacturing conditions can make discrepancies in the final product, the EU law demands the manufacturing and the process of production to be evaluated and approved before any decision is made.

The European Union emphasised once again that the COVID passport is not a precondition for travel into the block and that the Member States can permit entry to persons who have been immunised with vaccines that have completed the WHO Emergency Use Listing process.

Since the two vaccine doses of the Indian-produced AstraZeneca vaccine do not allow travellers to enter the EU, a large number of the world’s population is excluded from the current travel policy of the block.

As such, Africa CDC and AU have encouraged the EU Commission to try and increase mandatory access to the COVID pass for vaccines that are suitable from global rollout utilising the COVAX facility supported by the EU.

“The current applicability guidelines put at risk the equitable treatment of persons having received their vaccines in countries profiting from the EU-supported COVAX Facility, including the majority of the African Union (AU) the Member States,” the joint statement of AU and Africa CDC reads.

Source: Schengenvisainfo news

Kenya eye growing intra-Africa tourism pie, hosts tour operators

Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) has intensified efforts to market Kenya to the rest of Africa by targeting key source markets in the region.

Speaking aboard the Tamarind Dhow in Mombasa County, KTB Corporate Affairs Manager Wausi Walya, who represented Chief Executive Betty Radier, said the move would increase tourist arrivals at a time when global tourism is reeling from the effects of Covid-19.

“There is immense potential in both regional and the African market we are trying to capture. One of them is to play host to familiarisation trips like this one and entice the travel trade to sample what Magical Kenya destination has to offer,” she said.

Walya was speaking at a special cocktail for 15 travel and tour operators from Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia, who have been on a week-long product sampling of Kenya’s popular tourist destinations.

Positive growth

The visitors have been to Nairobi, Nanyuki, the Maasai Mara, Tsavo, Diani, Malindi and Watamu on a mission to see the various tourist attractions. Before Covid-19, tourism on the continent was on a positive growth trajectory.

Travel experts say tourism numbers on the continent have grown at a rate of 8.6 per cent over the past years compared to a global average of seven per cent.

Tourism in Africa is rated as the fastest-growing market in the world. Walya also stressed the need to actualise increased growth and collaboration between Africa’s tourism destinations to tap into the potential that exists in the continent.

She noted that promoting intra-Africa tourism could at the same time catalyse the generation of opportunities within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Kenya Airways General Manager for Kenya and North Africa Rose Kiseli promised to support the sector through flexible bookings and ticket prices. “We are seeing increased uptake in passengers now taking to flying with June this year being the best. People are getting confident to travel. Airlifts now average 60-65 per cent,” she said. The agents lauded the country’s tourism with Travelneza Uganda boss Laura Kagame singling out the unique hotel settings.

Alpine Travels from Rwanda Marketing Manager Niyonzima Fred lauded the Nairobi-Mombasa Madaraka Express Passenger train service saying it enables tourists to see the scenic Tsavo wildlife.

Ethiopia’s Danex Tours and Travels Managing Director Daniel Melaku said the tourists were keen to visit the beach market that is popular with Ethiopian tourists.

Source: The Standard

KATA Travel Agents Prepare Ahead for NewGen ISS

Last week, the Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) held a virtual forum to sensitize Kenya’s travel agents on IATA’s New Generation Settlement Systems (NewGen ISS) scheduled to be implemented in the Kenyan Market in September 2021. This new implementation date comes after IATA had postponed its initial implementation date of October 16th 2019.

According to IATA, the NewGen ISS represents the most extensive and ambitious modernization of the IATA Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) that travel agents have been using to facilitate the global distribution and settlement of funds between travel agents and airlines for the past five decades.

The webinar which was opened by Madam Shazmin Manji, Vice-Chairperson Kenya Association of Travel Agents was geared towards preparing and educating the Kenyan travel trade players on the NewGen ISS accreditation models, IATA’s approach towards an enhanced risk management framework for the industry with the introduction of the Remittance Holding Capacity (RHC), and a new form of payment dubbed the IATA EasyPay based on the pay-as-you-go model.

The NewGen ISS comes with three levels of travel agent accreditation, allowing travel agents to choose the model most applicable to their business while giving them an opportunity to switch between models as their business evolves.

“NewGen ISS’ Risk Management Framework will offer a more secure environment for all participants through; fitting risk management to agents’ choice of accreditation and participation terms, introduction of a Remittance Holding Capacity (RHC), to enable safer selling and mitigate losses resulting from travel agency defaults,” said Manal Al-Taher, IATA’s Regional Manager for Transformation and Products-AME.

The system packs an alternative payments solution for travel agents, the IATA EasyPay, which will be a voluntary pay-as-you-go e-wallet solution for issuance of airline tickets in the BSP. The IATA EasyPay solution will allow travel agents to lower their financial security amounts held with IATA, and to issue transactions which are not included in their BSP remittance capacity.

The NewGen ISS will also feature the Global Default Insurance that will offer optional financial security alternative for travel agents serving as an alternative to bank guarantees.

“This initiative will bring positive changes to the current Billing Settlement Plan (BSP) that continues to serve the industry’s financial settlement requirements. It will bring greater options and flexibility to travel agents and provide greater financial security to airlines,” said Al-Taher.

RHC Calculation Model

The Remittance Holding Capacity (RHC) introduces a monetary threshold for agent’s BSP Cash sales. Agents will be notified by email when they reach 50%, 75% and 100% of the determined RHC, and will be able to monitor their RHC usage directly through the IATA Customer Portal.

The RHC for travel agents will be calculated based on the average of the three highest reporting periods of the previous 12 months plus 100%. However, in the current Covid-19 situation, IATA clarified that the calculations will be based on the 2019 sales, owing to the fact that 2020/21 sales were severally impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

While commenting on the calculation model for the Remittance Holding Capacity based on the 2019 sales, KATA CEO Agnes Mucuha said, “2019 sales levels will favour our travel agents, giving them a higher RHC thus allowing them to sell more.”

While addressing any fears that travel agents expressed over IATA limiting their selling capacity, Dania Al-Abbadi, IATA’s Senior Manager in charge of Agency Risk Management said that RHC will not restrict or limit travel agent sales. She reiterated that the measure is purely a prudential safeguard to protect airline revenues and not restricting sales.

“Travel agents will still have the capacity to continue selling via IATA EasyPay or by increasing their financial security which will in turn increase their RHC threshold,” said Al-Abbadi.

Dr Joseph Kithitu, KATA Finance Director urged members to familiarise themselves with the new rules as soon as possible, to understand the potential impact on their business. He advised members to lay more emphasis on understanding how these two areas will impact them; the Risk Status and Remittance Holding Capacity (RHC).

He encouraged members not to fear the new system, and to embrace the new technology tools that the industry is inventing as they are intended to create more efficiency.

Travelport and Emirates reach agreements on un-surcharged content, NDC distribution and IT service extension

Worldwide leader in travel retail, Travelport, and one of the world’s largest international airlines, Emirates, last week announced they have reached a commercial agreement that will allow Travelport-connected travel agencies to avoid the airline’s surcharge on bookings via Global Distribution Systems (GDS) that will be introduced from 01 July 2021. Furthermore, the companies announced a new long-term agreement to enable the distribution of Emirates NDC content via Travelport’s next-generation platform, Travelport+, and an extension to its longstanding IT agreement.

Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer at Emirates said: “We are pleased to have reached key agreements with Travelport that take our decades-long partnership to the next level. Supported by the recent launch of Travelport+, these new deals will further cement Emirates as the airline of choice for travellers that want highly personalized offers and access to the world’s best destinations. Emirates and Travelport will continue to work jointly on future travel retail solutions that will offer our travel community partners even better and more bespoke services.”

As of 01 July 2021, Travelport’s global network of travel agency partners will automatically be upgraded to a dedicated channel that provides access to un-surcharged content. These agencies will also continue to benefit from a graphically rich experience when searching for and booking Emirates branded fares, as well as greater access to its ancillary offers, thanks to a long-term extension of the airline’s existing agreement to use Travelport’s Rich Content and Branding merchandising tool.

As part of the deal, Travelport-connected agencies will be able to gain simplified access to Emirates’ NDC content and services via Travelport Smartpoint and the company’s enhanced RESTful / JSON APIs once the agencies sign new NDC specific agreements with both companies. Travelport and Emirates continue to progress the NDC technical solution for travel retailers worldwide and are now in the process of developing enhanced features and functionality that will, when complete, be gradually rolled out.

Travelport will also continue to provide Emirates with its industry-leading pricing, shopping and ticket rebooking technology as part of the agreement, to support the airline in the delivery of advanced shopping and rebooking options within its own internal sales channels, including its NDC channel and www.emirates.com.

Jason Clarke, Chief Commercial Officer, Travel Partners at Travelport, said: “This series of agreements highlights the determination of both Travelport and Emirates to re-invent travel retailing and push the boundaries of what’s possible. With a shared vision for the future, our long-standing collaboration will continue to go from strength-to-strength. Together, we look forward to giving the many travelers returning to the skies this summer and beyond the best possible offers and experiences.”

Source: Emirates