Hahn Air, market leader in
airline distribution, is the first airline that issued a real-world ticket
enabled by blockchain technology on the open-source travel distribution
platform Winding Tree. It is also the first airline to fly passengers holding
blockchain-powered tickets on its scheduled flight from Dusseldorf to Luxemburg
on November 18th, 2019. The first “blockchain passengers” were Maksim Izmaylov,
Founder of Winding Tree, Davide Montali, CIO of Winding Tree, and Frederick
Nowotny, Head of Sales Engineering at Hahn Air, (photo).
“We at Hahn Air
are constantly exploring new technologies and we are proud to now demonstrate
our technical capability to issue blockchain-powered Hahn Air tickets. We are
pleased to be partnering with Winding Tree, the most established company when
it comes to distributing travel inventory in the blockchain. Our goal is to
investigate and monitor the opportunities this technology holds for travel
distribution, even if widespread acceptance is still a vision of the future,” commented
Frederick Nowotny.
Maksim Izmaylov adds: “While
blockchain technology is currently almost exclusively associated with the
cryptocurrency bitcoin it bears great potential for all industries and endless applications.
It will have an enormous impact on all areas of economy and commerce over the
next decades. We at Winding Tree believe that blockchain will have the power, like NDC, to
fundamentally change the face of travel distribution. With a broad knowledge, an innovative mindset and an unparalleled network, Hahn
Air is the ideal partner for us.”
Through the
Winding Tree platform, Hahn Air is able to list inventory, manage the
reservation requests, and receive payments once the booking process is
complete. Accepted payment methods are cash, credit card, or cryptocurrency (LIF
token or Ether).
The blockchain
technology holds many advantages for the different parties involved in the
process of booking an airline ticket:
·
- It is
open-source, meaning all market participants such as airlines, travel companies
and distribution systems can easily connect and exchange transactions.
·
- All market
participants can directly interact with each other and perform transactions
without intermediaries thereby reducing costs.
- It is 100%
secure. All of the necessary information is stored in a decentralised ledger
which is verified by millions of sources and therefore cannot be changed or
tampered with.
More information
on Hahn Air and its distribution solutions for partner airlines and travel
agencies can be found on www.hahnair.com.