Lufthansa, SAP Competition Seeks Ideas for Blockchain in Aviation

Major airline Lufthansa has partnered with software giant SAP to launch a blockchain competition aimed to boost blockchain adoption in the airline industry.

Announced Friday, the Aviation Blockchain Challenge seeks "Groundbreaking ideas" for blockchain applications that can advance the airline industry and lead on to pilot programs assisted by Lufthansa and SAP. The initiative comes as a response to the limited efforts being made currently to explore potential use cases for blockchain in the aviation industry, the two firms said in the announcement.

"While many industries have found their first use cases, the impact on the aviation sector is not noticeable yet. We want to change that together with SAP and see substantial potential in our industry to utilize blockchain and other plays of decentralized networks," Lufthansa said.

Specifically, the competition is looking for concepts for blockchain applications in three major areas: flight booking/purchasing and loyalty programs; internal data processing; and supply chain use cases involving third party suppliers.

Blockchain startups whose ideas are eventually selected will potentially be able to advance to pilot projects and launches of minimum viable products using SAP's blockchain-as-a-service platform, launched in June.

With an initial submission deadline of the end of August, Lufthansa said the final pitches for the best ideas will take place in Germany in October later this year.

Lufthansa has been exploring how to put reservations and traveler itinerary information on a distributed network through a partnership with an ethereum blockchain startup since October 2017.

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