One of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic over the past two years has been travel, with the airline industry taking a battering of note. However, moving into 2022, it seems there is no cloud without a silver lining.

One indication of this came this week, as Google Cloud announced it is teaming up with Comair, operator of the British Airways brand and the Kulula budget carrier in Sub-Saharan Africa. The companies explained that the collaboration ‘’will 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 completed its infrastructure optimization plans as it migrated six labor-intensive, on-premise data centers to Google Cloud. The migration of traditional IT infrastructure enables the airline to run key workloads that include important financial data, secure customer records, airplane navigation information, and more—all on the cleanest cloud in the industry.

In practical terms, the partnership means that Comair is 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 AI and machine learning using Google Cloud tools.  In particular, Comair will be able to analyze customer data in a deeper manner, creating personalized products and services, opening up more opportunities and improving the customer experience.

Moreover, Google Cloud is supporting Comair in modernizing 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.

“With the customer positioned at the heart of everything the team does at Comair, we are 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,” commented Niral Patel, Director of Google Cloud Africa.

“Comair’s digital transformation journey started before the pandemic, and was indeed accelerated by it, but the airline had taken a head start to digitization before the global lockdown was even in sight by migrating to the cloud.  Also, by accelerating cloud adoption, Comair is able to reduce processing power for its systems and become more sustainable,” he continued.

“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,” added Avsharn Bachoo, Chief Information Officer of Comair

“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,” concluded Bachoo.