Travelstart, Egypt’s leading online travel agency, has launched ‘Flapp’, a mobile app for travel bookings available for iOS and Android platforms.

Flapp is a dedicated travel booking mobile app which enables Egyptians to book and pay for flights from any airline to any airport, locally and abroad. The app is available immediately for download free-of-charge via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

“Mobile commerce is one of the fastest growing opportunities in Egypt,” said Ahmed Saadeddine, country manager for Travelstart Egypt. “Egyptians love their mobile phones and an increasing number of mobile subscribers are now using their phones to order goods and services. Travelstart’s Flapp app gives consumers a powerful mobile travel booking tool to browse and compare flights, buy air tickets and add value-added services.”

Travelstart made a commitment to mobile users early on, by ensuring that all of its global content is seamlessly available and navigable via mobile screens. Now, mobile users are able to quickly and easily check flight prices and flight availability before booking and buy tickets via the new Flapp app. The mobile app also provides value-added services such as travel insurance, flexi-tickets and flight status updates, which can be attached to bookings made within the app.

Flapp users have the option to create an account, which securely stores passenger information and credit cards details for faster checkouts. After paying a booking confirmation is sent to the passenger’s email address instantly. In addition to credit card payments, the app also accepts online transfers from leading Egyptian banks El Ahli United Bank, National Bank of Egypt, Commercial International Bank, Bank of Alexandria and Banque Misr. Flapp users in Egypt can pay for all bookings in local currency, removing the need for foreign exchange transactions.

The rise of mobile commerce in Egypt

With more than 100 per cent penetration in mobile lines, Egypt continues to see strong growth in mobile services. According to the Ministry of C.I.T., Egypt saw a 21 per cent increase in mobile internet subscriptions during 2015 reaching a total of 25 million mobile internet users. Meanwhile, according to PayFort’s State of Payments 2016 report, some 42 per cent of Egyptians are already using their mobile devices to complete online payment transactions.

Travelstart is increasingly looking to the power of smaller screens to engage customers and has invested in developing compelling mobile offerings. The new Flapp app’s ease of use, value-added features (such as the ability to book travel insurance within the app) and the choice of airlines and destinations available echo the form and functionality of the Travelstart website.

Travelstart’s global head of communications Russell Jarvis said the company aims to offer its customers the best mobile experience in the travel booking space: “Flapp is like having Travelstart in your pocket – we have invested considerable resources in distilling the form and function of our website into an app environment and with 180,000 downloads across iOS and Android devices so far, we’re very pleased with the response Flapp has received.”

Flapp gives users a breakthrough experience in mobile travel booking. The app is lightweight, so it loads fast which reduces data costs on the users end and the interface has been optimised for users on-the-go. As such information is easy to understand and the booking process is streamlined.

Saadeddine said: “The rise in popularity of buying services via mobile is gaining pace in Egypt and we hope that the launch of the Flapp mobile travel app puts Travelstart at the forefront of this trend. We’ve already seen incredible growth in the use of Travelstart’s travel portal, so we see huge opportunity for this new app.” - TradeArbia News Service