A Russian airline has achieved a world’s first by using the Ethereum blockchain to sell tickets.

S7 Airlines, in conjunction with Russia’s Alfa-Bank, has implemented the Ethereum blockchain to simplify payments and to speed up payment settlement times between airlines and agents. The customized platform automatically processes all stage of bookings including execution of payment application, verification of adequacy of funds deposited in the account, writing off of amounts and status updates.

“We have made the world’s first transaction for flight ticket purchases through the open API [application programming interface] blockchain to the bank, but I am sure that such a pattern will soon be used by many companies all over the world,” Pavel Voronin, deputy general director for information technologies at S7 Group, said in a statement. “The blockchain platform allows optimizing business processes significantly. It automates any mutual payment pattern, even a very difficult one, such as warehouse supplies, for example. Human participation is almost unnecessary when using such an instrument: there is no need to issue invoices, perform reconciliations, and prepare certificates.”

Interesting, the S7 is looking to extend the platform for non-ticketing purposes as well, including its transactions with caterers, and fuel and airport service providers.

Traditional bitcoin-based blockchain technologies are being used in the west for a range of purposes, such as stock exchange settlements, bank transfers and government filings. But the fact that S7 Airlines went with the Ethereum blockchain specifically may be a sign of things to come.

It’s related to the platform that bitcoin uses, but the Ethereum blockchain differs in having a system that deals with contracts built in as standard. It is rapidly becoming a favored platform in sectors such as initial coin offerings, where it’s used to issue tokens that are mostly linked to equity in a given company.

Photo: Milad A380/Wikimedia Commons