Dubai-based carrier Emirates has introduced a split-payment capability for customers in Kenya, enabling travelers to complete ticket purchases using multiple payment methods or staggered installments. The feature is delivered through Cellulant’s Tingg payment gateway and is expected to expand to additional African markets in the coming months.
Available on the airline’s website, the solution allows customers to combine mobile money, mobile banking, and local debit or credit cards for a single transaction. Travelers can also make an initial payment and complete up to four additional installments within 24 hours, helping them remain within mobile wallet transaction limits while completing high-value bookings.
The development addresses a structural challenge in many African markets, where mobile money is widely used but subject to per-transaction and daily caps. With more than one billion registered mobile money wallets across the continent, such limits have often prevented customers from completing large purchases such as international airfares, resulting in abandoned transactions.
Michael Muriuki, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Cellulant, said the integration aims to remove friction in high-value digital payments. “With hundreds of millions of Africans relying on mobile money as their preferred way to pay, extending this convenience to global travel payments is essential. Through Tingg, we are enabling Emirates customers to complete high-value transactions seamlessly, without transaction limits becoming a barrier to access.”
