airBaltic will be launching a new collection of 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called Planies in May 2022, building on its legacy as the airline at the forefront of integrating blockchain technology within its business model. Simple Flying spoke exclusively to Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic, to find out the details.
airBaltic has in-house crypto experience
Back in 2014, airBaltic became the first airline in the world to start accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to purchase flight tickets. Today, the airline continues to accept multiple cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.
Last year, in 2021, the airline became the first airline in the world to start issuing its own NFTs. It has already issued nine editions of what it calls the airBaltic City Collection. All nine are available at https://opensea.io/airBaltic. Speaking exclusively to Simple Flying, Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic, said the following about 2021:
“We got a lot of experience about NFTs that year in-house. The idea design was born in-house. We had the first designs by some international designers, but today it’s all in-house designers.”
Planies is the new NFT collection from airBaltic. Photo: airBaltic
Planies: a new NFT collection
airBaltic’s newest plan is to launch Planies, a new NFT collection of 10,000 unique cartoon aircraft designs. The NFT holders of the collectibles will be able to receive airBaltic Club points and other loyalty program benefits. You can follow Planies on Twitter here.
Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic, said:
“We have seen a high interest in our initial NFTs, the airBaltic City Collection, and now we are taking the next step. By providing additional benefits like frequent flyer points or certain vouchers, we give added value to the collectors. It is the first step towards preparing the airBaltic Club loyalty program for crypto tokenization in the future.”
Speaking exclusively to Simple Flying about Planies, he also said:
“All of them will be unique. 10,000 different unique ones in different colors (…) They are minted on the blockchain, and they will be tradable like collector’s cards.”
airBaltic is tokenizing the airBaltic Club loyalty program. Photo: airBaltic
Tokenizing the airBaltic Club loyalty program
In the longer term, airBaltic will be looking to link these NFTs to the airBaltic Club by issuing points to members of the Club who hold the tokens. This gives customers an incentive to own one. The CEO said:
“With Web 3.0 arriving shortly, airBaltic is preparing to develop token-based economics for its frequent flyer program. The NFT technology will help to further digitalize processes not only within our loyalty program but also in various other airline processes, thus reducing costs and making our work easier. The different NFT Planies will also be featured in the on-board entertainment materials for kids and youngsters, as well as in airBaltic’s advertisements.”
Additional reasons that airBaltic believes customers will benefit from the purchase of Planies include the following:
- The speculative aspect of the purchase: the NFT could appreciate in value in the future.
- The artistic aspect of the NFT itself: the purchase of an NFT gives you the ownership and usage rights over a unique piece of art. airBaltic says you can then use this for your own commercial purposes, like opening a coffee shop under the NFT as a brand.
What do you think of airBaltic tokenizing the airBaltic Club loyalty program? Let us know in the comments.
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