Singapore Airlines (SIA), a company that is constantly ranked among the best and most reliable flight operators worldwide, has launched a blockchain wallet, dubbed KrisPay. The new platform will allow the members of KrisFlyer, SIA’s frequent flyer programme, to convert their air miles into virtual currency.

The minimum threshold is as little as 15 KrisPay miles (equivalent to $0.07). Clients of the new platform will initially be able to pay for goods and services at the 18 partner retailers of SIA, including hotels, gas stations, beauty salons, food and beverage vendors and other outlets. More partners will be added in the coming months, with in-app promotions and additional features also planned further down the road.

Available on both iOS and Android platforms the new app has been touted as “the world’s first blockchain-based airline loyalty digital wallet“ by the SIA. The CEO of the airlines Goh Choon Phong claimed that, “By creating a miles-based digital wallet which integrates the use of miles into their daily lives, KrisFlyer members have yet another way to use miles instantly on everyday transactions.“

SIA has struck an impressive partnership with Microsoft to develop the platform back in February. Another partner of the project was audit firm KPMG, who collaborated to run a successful proof-of-concept exercise, which involved testing the app and doing trials with partner merchants.

Jan Reinmueller, Head of Digital Village, KPMG, Singapore, commented on the partnership by saying that, “By building on our track record in business model innovation and digital transformation, KPMG Digital Village was selected to help SIA with their customer loyalty programme.”

SIA is not the first airline to consider adding the distributed ledger technology to their operations. The US-based Surf Air announced its plans to accept digital currency payments for flight tickets last year. The German aircraft lynchpin Lufthansa has collaborated with Air New Zealand and Swiss startup Winding Tree to explore blockchain in order to increase efficiency and security of services such as booking and baggage tracking.

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