THE Wrap is a round-up of news in the travel and technology industries, and to keep track of developments in these sectors as businesses adapt and reset to meet challenges in the era of coronavirus.
AirAsia utilises AI-technology to provide contactless clearance before flight
AirAsia is expanding its technology solutions to make flying more hygienic and safe in the era of coronavirus with a new contactless clearance system known as Scan2Fly, which determines a passenger’s eligibility to fly before they arrive at the airport.
Developed in partnership with digital transformation company GrayMatter the system, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), is for passengers travelling to destinations that have specific requirements mandated by the local government such as a negative Covid-19 test certificate .
Passengers can scan and upload their medical certificates or documents required during self check-on the airline’s website or through the mobile app.
AirAsia said AI integrates with its check-in portal to analyse the uploaded document based on several factors required by the destination country, such as the date and type of test plus result and if was carried out from an accredited clinic or hospital. Within seconds the passenger will receive a verification if his/her document details are accepted or rejected, including the reason for any rejection
Travellers who are rejected will receive a boarding pass stating that verification is required. They have to go to the airline’s counter on the day of departure for manual validation..
AirAsia said this system would reduce staff interaction at the airport, and provides travellers with peace of mind before travelling to the airport.
Scan2Fly has gone live for several AirAsia flights from Malaysia’s budget terminal klia2 to and from Singapore, as well as to and from Surabaya. The system will be launching soon for flights to and from Jakarta, and “eventually” be introduced to other AirAsia destinations where valid travel documents are required prior to travel.
“Innovation has always been in our DNA. Our digital transformation continues to gain momentum as we work hard to make travel in this new world more secure, hygienic, contactless and seamless than ever before by improving our digital capabilities which reduce costs and further enhance the customer journey,” Javed Malik, COO of AirAsia Group.
“As we pivot into a one-stop travel and lifestyle platform, there are many more innovations in the pipeline which we will announce in due course.”
The budget carrier also announced numerous technologies to improve the customer journey during the current pandemic. This is through a partnership formed in October with Portugal-based Vision-Box, which specialises in biometrics travel, automated border management and electronic identity management solutions. They are developing technologies that include automated bag drop services, roving technology for temperature checks and biometric facial recognition technology F.A.C.E.S. (Fast Airport Clearance Experience System).
In another development, the carrier’s superapp airasia.com entered into a partnership with Turkish Airlines, as it readies for the revival of international travel, in addition to expanding its offering on the platform.
Tencent introduces Al Transfy, its automatic subtitling solution
Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of internet service provider Tencent, has launched a speech recognition and automatic subtitle generation solution called Al Transfy.
Targeted at international markets Tencent said the service can be used in cases like online education, conferences, broadcast entertainment, livestreaming and news. It currently supports numerous languages including Chinese, English, Malay, Indonesian and Thai.
The solution has speech recognition accuracy rate of 96.3% percent, especially for Chinese and English, it added in the statement announcing the launch.
“There has been a strong growth in virtual conferences this year, making it even more important for us as a leading internet service provider to keep up with customers’ ever-changing needs,” said Tencent International Business Group vice president Poshu Yeung.
Tencent has offered to use Al Transfy to provide simultaneous translation and subtitling for the 4th World Intelligence Congress (WIC) held in June this year attended by 58.6 million online participants over forty platforms. It also provided technical assistance and translation services to the 127th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, the longest-running international trading event in the country..
Qantas and Accor combine resources to expand rewards for loyalty programmes members
Loyalty programme members of Qantas and Accor will soon be able to gain greater rewards in a new deal between the two companies that will launch in mid-2021.
Accor described the collaboration as “the first partnership of its kind between an airline and hospitality group in the Asia Pacific region”.
Members of both programmes will earn reward points on Qantas Points and ALL – Accor Live Limitless for bookings on both Accor hotels across Asia Pacific and Qantas’ domestic and international flights.
“From next year eligible members of Qantas’ and Accor’s loyalty programmes will earn twice when they fly or stay with the two brands. This is an entirely new way to recognise the loyalty of our frequent flyers which we know will be very popular,” said Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth.
“Although our members haven’t been flying much lately due to border css losures, we know there is huge pent up demand, and we’ve been looking at how we provide even more value when their travel resumes whether that’s for business or leisure.”
Accor Pacific CEO Simon McGrath said the enhanced partnership between Accor and Qantas was a major milestone for the travel industry, enabling greater benefits for loyalty customers across Accor’s 1,240 hotels, apartments and resorts in the Asia Pacific region.
“We are joining forces to enable our customers to be part of something special, delivering exceptional travel benefits and unrivalled service for people who enjoy our two much-loved brands.”
According to Accor, members of the loyalty programmes will receive more details of the new partnership early next year.
Conferma Pay and Visa launch virtual commercial card for businesses worldwide
Provider of virtual payment technology Conferma Pay and Visa have announced a partnership to launch Visa Commercial Pay, a suite of B2B payment solutions to help improve cashflow for businesses and eliminate outdated manual processes.
With virtual commercial cards at its core the suite features three B2B payment offerings for financial institutions and their corporate customers:
• Visa Commercial Pay Mobile: Visa-branded app, developed for Visa’s commercial clients, hosts digitally-issued Visa virtual commercial cards on employees and contractors’ mobile devices. Its tools and features help users to better manage and track spend, and lessen the dependency on issuing and mailing physical cards. Employees can use the on-demand virtual cards, through integration into mobile wallets, to pay for purchases done online or in-store.
• Visa Commercial Pay Travel: Solution that enables businesses to centrally manage their business travel spend such as air and hotel. It integrates into business travel reservation processes and delivers enhanced data, full spend visibility and automated expense reconciliation. Employees and contractors can view their reservations and total spend within the app.
• Visa Commercial Pay B2B: Platform that combines the capabilities of Visa and Conferma Pay to give buyers and suppliers more options to pay and get paid. It provides a range of features to help companies better manage cash flow and capture enhanced data for reconciliation and reporting capabilities. Companies have the flexibility to choose either a single comprehensive programme management platform or a seamlessly-integrated solution into third party procurement platforms.
“The launch of Visa Commercial Pay in partnership with Conferma Pay allows us to accelerate B2B money movement away from slow, outdated methods to fast, data-rich, secure digital payments and give businesses better control over their finances,” said Kevin Phalen, global head, Visa Business Solutions.
Simon Barker, CEO at Conferma Pay, said with employees working from home it was more difficult to to monitor and approve spend. The Visa Commercial Pay initiative would “help businesses gain greater visibility and control over B2B spend while drastically improving the payment experience for buyers, suppliers, company contractors and employees.”
• Featured image credit: Zephyr18/Getty Images
