This Airline Says Blockchain Ticketing Sales Hit USD 1m in July

One of Russia’s biggest airlines, S7 Airlines, says that its blockchain-powered ticketing platform processed over USD 1 million worth of sales in July alone.

S7 said that it is also planning to expand the scope of its blockchain operations and sales network, and pledged to “deploy online agents” on the platform before the end of 2019. And S7 said the number of operations it processes on its platform is “growing every month,” claiming it has seen a tenfold rise in payments made on the blockchain platform since the start of 2019.

The company added, in a press release, that blockchain technology was making it “easier for agents to work directly with the airline.”

The airline uses an Ethereum-powered, Hyperledger Fabric platform that it co-developed with major Russian bank Alfa-Bank. The airline claims it sold its first blockchain-powered ticket on the platform over a year ago.

S7 says that its platform has let it link its ticket booking system to the Russian banking system, expiate payment processes and cut down on paperwork, as well as enabling “24/7” sales service.

And S7 claims to have been the “first airline in Russia to refuel an aircraft using smart contracts based on blockchain technology,” working in conjunction with both Alfa-Bank and Gazpromneft-Aero, the aviation refueling arm of oil giant Gazprom.

The parties claim that using blockchain technology means that “the process of debiting funds and transferring reporting documents between the fuel supplier and the airline takes only 60 seconds.”

“The good results of our project with S7 Airlines show that the blockchain technology creates value and is largely decisive for the B2B [business-to-business] market. Agents left behind the guarantees and deposits, reduced transaction costs and now can make payments 24/7. We see great potential in the use of smart contracts and external business logic in accounting and paperwork in various sectors of the economy,” Pavel Ryazanov, Director of Transaction Business at Alfa-Bank, said.
____________________

____________________

Meanwhile, the low-cost carrier and one of the biggest airlines in Europe, Norwegian, announced recently that it will allow its passengers to pay for tickets in cryptocurrency, including the most popular one, bitcoin, but also to trade on the airline’s very own crypto exchange.