Air Canada has signed a letter of intent to participate in Winding Tree’s blockchain travel distribution platform. It’s the first carrier from North America to implement some form of blockchain technology into its operations and it will likely not be the last. Winding Tree enables customizers to tap into its decentralized ecosystem of airlines and accommodation. This helps consumers save the middleman costs that are traditionally associated with travel agencies.
Winding Tree Loading the Bases
Winding Tree – a Swiss blockchain firm – has been developing its decentralized ecosystem for quite some time now. In fact, it boasts a wide range of companies that are using its ecosystem, such as Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, Swissport, Air New Zealand, and Nordic Choice Hotels. This huge depth of travel firms using the ecosystem mean that travelers have a range of options to pick from at low cost rages that cannot be found on the high-street.
Air France-KLM Ready for Takeoff
Earlier this month, Air France-KLM signed up to Winding Tree to help cut costs and keep flights as cheap as possible. Winding Tree’s platform enables airlines to cut out the middleman and affiliates, meaning tickets are sold at a cheaper price and flights will be filled to capacity. This in turn makes routes more feasible and profitable for the airline – as some travel sites sell on airline tickets with a huge markup, meaning people don’t often book those routes unless necessary.
Refueling Service Initiated
Blockchain adoption in the airline industry doesn’t end with buying tickets. Russian airline S7 has teamed up with Gazprom Neft to handle the refueling of its fleet using blockchain technology and smart contracts. The combination of blockchain technology and smart contracts will mitigate millions of dollars’ worth of risk from the whole process from both parties. Rather than pre-paying for fuel, S7 can now pay at the pump, just like you do when fueling your car – pretty handy for the pilots.
Air Canada passengers will soon be able to enjoy lower ticket prices thanks to this new partnership. Canada is quickly becoming a country that fully supports blockchain development, and we are seeing a lot of new innovation coming from the country. It likely won’t be long before Canada sets about creating its own blockchain regulations and we see the Canadian blockchain industry exploding – after all, the father of Ethereum is from Canada.
