At an event held on Tuesday in Buenos Aires, Flybondi launched its «Tickets 3.0», which rely on TravelX’s NFTickets, developed based on blockchain technology.
During the presentation, Mauricio Sana, CEO of Flybondi, highlighted the NFTicket as the next step in the evolution of airline tickets, the first in more than 15 years since the global implementation of the current electronic ticket system.
The main feature of the «Ticket 3.0» is that it becomes the property of the customer and can be transferred to anyone they want (as a gift or reselling it), something that airlines in general do not currently allow. Now, with blockchain technology, it is possible to efficiently trace the ownership of the ticket.
«There is something very important that marks our DNA, which is innovation. We are a company driven by it,» said Mauricio Sana. «Coming to Argentina to set up a yellow low-cost airline is already quite innovative for the Argentine model. But we have also achieved several very interesting milestones over the past five years, such as being an airline with 100% digital distribution designed and managed internally, which makes us the best e-commerce platform in the region for an airline,» he added, also referring to other unique services such as ultra-passes or gift cards, among others.
«Today is day zero to start evangelizing something that we believe is going to change the industry,» Sana continued.
Juan Pablo Lafosse, CEO and Co-founder of TravelX, and a professional with extensive experience in the tourism industry, said about the company’s origin, «we began to think about how to improve this industry that has normalized many things that don’t have to be that way, when most industries have been able to improve the products or services they offer in the last 30 years, but the travel industry has not, and has even impoverished them.»
Lafosse also detailed that TravelX has 12 offices in 6 countries and has raised more than USD 16 million from leading funds that have allowed the technology to be developed over the last two years.
«We met with dozens of airlines from around the world who were very interested in the solution, but there was one that decided to take the first step,» he added, referring to Flybondi.
«We are convinced that this is a first step towards global change, because many airlines will follow Flybondi, and this will change the passenger experience around the world,» he concluded.
Through a video message, José Ricardo Botelho, Executive Director of ALTA (Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association), pointed out that the «Ticket 3.0» is a disruptive initiative that will bring many benefits to the industry chain.
«We congratulate our members Flybondi and TravelX for seeking a differentiated business model, and for bringing more comfort and efficiency to all those who use air transport,» said Botelho.
The «Tickets 3.0» began to be issued with all national flight reservations of Flybondi since March 28. At the moment, the only restriction in terms of dates is that changes can be made up to 48 hours before the flight departure. There are no transfer limits before this time, and only a fee of around 5% of the ticket value is charged.
Apart from being able to transfer tickets to family and friends, it is also possible to create a «parallel market» for buying and selling tickets between third parties, something that the airline, far from fearing, will even further encourage in the future by launching a marketplace for buyers and sellers to connect with each other.
NFTickets could also be used by travel agencies or corporate travel departments to purchase ticket packages in advance that they can then assign to different people, ensuring that they have already locked in the price.
In this video, you can watch the presentations of Mauricio Sana and Juan Pablo Lafosse during the event, as well as a live demonstration of the transfer of an NFTicket:
