Cloud technology and services provider Google Cloud and sub-Saharan African airline Comair are collaborating to accelerate the aviation group’s digital transformation plans in line with its mission to deliver seamless travel experiences for customers and help the travel industry regain momentum.
Comair, which operates the British Airways brand and the Kulula budget carrier in sub-Saharan Africa, completed its infrastructure optimisation plans as it migrated six labour-intensive, on-premise data centres to Google Cloud.
AdvertisementThe migration of traditional information technology infrastructure enables the airline to run key workloads that include important financial data, secure customer records, aeroplane navigation information and more on the cloud, Comair said on January 17.
“Google Cloud is supporting Comair in modernising its legacy applications, such as its kulula.com booking application, using prominent tools like Firebase and Flutter to upgrade its functionalities and provide the scalability the airline requires. Comair customers now turn to the Kulula application as the main channel to interact with the airline, following upgrades that have enabled more seamless booking and flight payments,” the airline added.
AdvertisementComair has also been able to benefit from the security, reliability and flexibility provided by Google Cloud, which has helped increase the airline’s efficiency during high-traffic seasons and peak travel times, as it needed to scale to meet consumer travel demand.
Comair is also now better positioned to build a data foundation using artificial intelligence and machine learning using Google Cloud tools.
“In particular, Comair will be able to analyse customer data in a deeper manner, creating personalised products and services, opening up more opportunities and improving the customer experience,” it said.
“We are delighted to have moved to Google Cloud at a time when Cloud has become the foundation that enables businesses to transform, differentiate and gain competitive advantage.
"The sooner you digitally transform, the quicker you’re able to respond to uncertain times.As a result, the digital maturity measures we’ve put in place have helped drive a post-lockdown recovery,” said Comair chief information officer Avsharn Bachoo.
Google Cloud Africa director Niral Patel adds that Google Cloud is proud to deliver the cloud infrastructure capabilities and tools that will further engrain the airline’s brand promise to be the easiest to book and pay.
“Comair’s digital transformation journey started before the pandemic and was accelerated by it, but the airline had taken a head start to digitisation before the global lockdown by migrating to the cloud.
"Further, by accelerating cloud adoption, Comair is able to reduce processing power for its systems and become more sustainable,” he said.