Hahn Air, a modest-sized German carrier that offers scheduled and charter flights from Düsseldorf airport, has announced the issuance of the first airline tickets enabled by blockchain technology. The tickets were issued through a partnership with the open-source travel distribution platform, Winding Tree (LIF).
The first blockchain-based tickets were issued to passengers boarding a flight to Luxemburg and included Winding Tree’s founder, Maksim Izmaylov, and their CIO, Davide Montali, along with the Hahn Air’s Head of Sales Engineering, Frederick Nowotny.
Change the Face of Travel
According to Nowotny, the intention behind issuing tickets on the blockchain was part of a wider goal, “…to investigate and monitor the opportunities this technology holds for travel distribution, even if widespread acceptance is still a vision of the future.”
Using the Winding Tree platform, Hanh Air are able to list inventory, handle reservation requests and take payments for bookings in cash, credit card, or cryptocurrency in the form of Ether (ETH) or Winding Tree’s LIF token.
Maksim Izmaylov believes blockchain technology in general “…will have an enormous impact on all areas of economy and commerce over the next decades…” and in this particular sector it will “…fundamentally change the face of travel distribution.”
Winding Tree, who also listed Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines and Lufhansa amongst their early partners, came to market through an initial coin offering (ICO) in early 2018 and raised the $10 million funding goal within 6 days.
