Winding Tree is one of the specialists in blockchain-based travel bookings. Recently, Winding Tree made a partnership with the airline group Lufthansa. Through this partnership, Lufthansa will have the ability to introduce blockchain applications for their digital products.
Lufthansa made its partnership with Winding Tree with the help with Lufthansa Innovation Hub. The aim of Lufthansa Innovation Hub is to harness the new technologies that will control the travel in future.
Winding Tree tends to break the rules with the blockchain technology. They will move from the GDS and OTA business models to the exchange of data and currencies.
They revealed the White Paper regarding the travel industry: A Practical Application of Blockchain for the Travel Industry. Winding Tree declared:
“The consolidated nature of the travel distribution platforms creates a situation where the intermediaries have no incentive to use new technologies. Instead, they spend resources on locking their customers into using systems that were in some cases created decades ago.
“Current archaic technological solutions create extremely high barriers to entry for new platforms. Blockchain technology allows for a ground layer to be built for a truly free and competitive market in travel distribution.”
Winding Tree and the blockchain technology
It added:
“The concentrated and centralized state of travel distribution bears a strong cost on consumers, while poor currency exchange solutions inflate consumer prices. The problem is particularly acute for travel startups, the main sources of innovation in the sector.”
The senior vice president distribution & revenue management of Lufthansa Group Airlines, Markus Binkert, spoke about his decision to make a partnership with Winding Tree:
“Lufthansa Group has engaged in the development of APIs, for instance supporting IATA NDC standard, to offer a direct access to its offers to customers and distribution partners.
“By integrating these APIs with Winding Tree’s public blockchain, Lufthansa Group enables all innovative partners. They develop cutting-edge travel applications to access these offers via a decentralized and intermediate-free travel marketplace.”
Maksim Izmaylov, founder and CEO of Winding Tree added:
“The partnership with the Lufthansa Group will allow us to build blockchain-based travel apps which not only adhere to the requirements of airlines, but we will be able to test these with Europe’s largest airline, further validating the efficiency and scalability of the platform.”
Recently, appeared another declaration of Lufthansa about its participation at pre-sale regulatory clearance from Swiss authorities. But Lufthansa didn’t declare at all the amount invested.