The aviation market is huge, complicated, interconnected, and growing quickly. There is a need for new commercial planes, and over the next 20 years, there could be as many as 40,000 of them.

As companies that build, fly, and fix planes grow, they look for skills, technologies, and tools like AI, 3D printing, and others that will help them do their jobs better. On top of that, they think about another cutting-edge technology called Blockchain Technology. Let’s look more closely at how the blockchain development services works and how it could change the aviation industry.

Things you should know about Blockchain in Aviation:

• Markets and Markets say that airlines’ use of blockchain will grow from USD 421 million in 2019 to USD 1,394 million in 2025, which is a CAGR of 22.1% over the forecast period.
• During the time frame of the forecast, the North American aviation blockchain market is expected to grow at a rate of 25.2% per year. When it comes to using new technologies and building new infrastructure, North America is the most advanced part of the world. How quickly blockchain is used in air travel is a big factor in how quickly this area grows.

How Blockchain is used in the Aviation Business?

Every company that works on blockchain development has great ways to keep data safe and keep track of it. Soon, the aviation business might think about how to use it to its advantage. Here are a few ways in which the aviation industry could benefit from the blockchain:

Identity Management

People’s names and other personal information can be stolen and used for bad things like fraud and terrorism. This problem is solved by blockchain, which uses biometrics to check the identities of people. Once a person’s identity has been checked and saved on a blockchain, it is almost impossible to change it because the network is very safe and not run by one person. This would also get rid of the need for paper passports and the need for people to make mistakes when being checked.

Ticket Tokenization

Plane tickets are either paper or electronic passes right now. With blockchain, you won’t have to use paper tickets at all, and smart contracts can be used to turn e-tickets into tokens. Tokenized tickets can have their own business rules and terms, like how to sell them and how to use them in the value chain in a safe and efficient way in real-time. People will also be able to buy tickets from partners all over the world.

Security

Information privacy is important for businesses because many people share personal information to make systems work better. Passenger records and crew information need to be kept safe because a mistake could lead to dangerous situations or the wrong people using identities. Using blockchain technology and a security wrapper, the government can safely share this information. One of the most successful companies in this field is Aeron.

Loyalty Points

When loyalty points and programs are turned into tokens using blockchain, users can use them right away in real time. Also, a group of partners makes it possible to use these loyalty points in more ways. Travelers will save time and find it easier to pay for things if they use points instead of cash.

Maintenance

Maintenance logs are used by manufacturers, traders, service providers, and airlines to keep track of what needs to be done. These take a lot of time and are prone to mistakes if any of the entries are made wrong. Blockchain technology can do away with the need for complicated databases and paper binders. It can also help airlines keep a single record of where something came from that the right people can get to right away. With this, maintenance events could be put in order of importance, and this information would be kept in the aircraft’s maintenance record. This would save time, help keep the plane in good shape, and make sure it is safe.

A lot of maintenance is done today after something goes wrong or after a problem with one part has caused problems with other parts. If technicians could look at the configuration and history of every aircraft in a fleet on a blockchain ledger, they could do more predictive maintenance and might be able to stop problems before they affect operations.

Possible Benefits for the Airline Business

The aviation industry’s current systems are old and separate, which makes it hard for the many players in the industry’s complex ecosystem to share data quickly and easily. Blockchain can solve these problems. Its shared nature, which is built on a decentralized approach to data management, security, and the exchange of information, can make it much faster, more open, and more responsive. This saves a lot of time and money and opens the door to new ways of doing business. Airlines can do the following with blockchain:

Automate Payments and Tasks

Smart contracts are electronic agreements that run themselves based on rules that have already been set. The airline business is very interested in this idea. This is how you can set up a wide range of transactions, like billing between airlines, billing between travel agents and airlines, figuring out loyalty settlements, buying travel insurance, and paying airport and authority taxes and fees.

Great Customer Experience

Most airlines are trying to improve the customer experience by using blockchain. When members of an airline’s loyalty programme fly on a partner airline, adding the miles or points flown to the customer’s account can be hard, time-consuming, and prone to mistakes. Smart contracts can make the process between airlines easier and more automated, make customers happier, and lower the chance of making a mistake.

There are many new apps that try to keep customers coming back. Singapore Airlines has made a digital wallet that lets customers use their frequent-flier miles at participating stores. Cathay Pacific Airways’ loyalty app lets partners and members use their rewards almost immediately, almost in real-time. SITA Lab is testing a blockchain app that would let travelers make tokens on their phones that they could use in airports and across borders.

Make Revenue Accounting Easier

When an airline sells a ticket, they often have to work with GDSs, travel agents, or other airlines, and they have to share sensitive booking information with them. This makes it hard to keep track of how much money comes in and how much goes out. IATA is used by airlines today because it sets industry standards and acts as a clearing house for payments.

The association’s billing settlement plan handles payments between travel agents and airlines, and its clearinghouse solution handles billing between airlines. Blockchain could automate and streamline these settlement processes, keep booking information safe, stop disputes, and get rid of the hard work of reconciling.

Less reliance on Middlemen

Airlines have become very dependent on a small number of third parties that control a lot of the industry’s decision-making power and charge a lot of money for their services. GDSs tell travel agents what tickets are available, and the travel agents sell those tickets to people and businesses. The top three GDSs control 99.9% of the market for indirect ticket sales. Online travel agents are used to book most flights.

Blockchain can help people in a network make more money by cutting down on these third-party costs. Air France–KLM, Air Canada, Lufthansa, and Air New Zealand are all working with Winding Tree to make a blockchain app that will let people buy tickets directly from the airlines. In a project backed by Russia’s biggest commercial bank, S7 Airlines is using blockchain to sell and issue tickets and make sure that airlines and travel agents get paid faster.

Tracking of parts, luggage, and shipments

Given how much the industry cares about safety, it is important to know where all the parts, pieces, and other materials that make up an airplane come from and make sure they are good quality. In MRO, it can be hard to figure out where parts come from and how they got there because of the complicated value chain. This chain includes manufacturers, resellers of parts, airlines, service providers, and regulatory agencies.

Blockchain makes the whole value chain clear and keeps a record of the sources and histories of all parts and components so that they can be checked. This can also be done with baggage and high-value cargo shipments, which are handled by many different people, such as customers, airlines, transportation companies, airports, and local governments.

Improved Ground Operations

Blockchain can help airlines coordinate the activities of all the crew members and service providers, like cleaners, baggage handlers, caterers, and airport ground crews, that they depend on for on-time departures and find the cause of any delays.

Final Takeaway

Blockchain technology can help airlines improve and speed up their services. The aviation industry is definitely one of the ones that is growing the fastest in the 21st century. With the rise of blockchain technology, a new wave of technological progress has begun, which could help the aviation industry in many ways.

So, using blockchain in aviation could open up new ways to be open and honest, especially in maintenance, flight data security, and information about passengers. In the long run, this will help improve both speed and accuracy.