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Emirates Airlines to accept Bitcoin for payment of flight tickets
Air passengers will henceforth book Emirates Airlines flight tickets with Bitcoin after the United Arab Emirates-owned airline declared its readiness to tap into the cryptocurrency market.
The airlines chief operating officer (COO), Adel Ahmed Al-Redha, confirmed the development to journalists in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
He also listed the airlines’ digital path to include Metaverse and Non-Fungible Token (NFT).
The UAE carrier becomes the second airline directly accepting Bitcoin following Lot Polish Airlines’ decision in 2015 to accept the digital asset for payment of flight tickets.
At the time, the cryptocurrency market was $7.25 billion, however, the industry has grown to $1.25 trillion just eight years after.
READ ALSO: Emirates Airlines resumes operations as Nigeria, UAE resolve differences
With the aviation industry slow to adopt the idea of cryptocurrency as a payment option, the entry of Emirates Airlines, which is the fourth biggest airline in the world, is a flip in status quo of receiving only fiat for direct ticket sales, and may see the aviation industry throw its door wide open for crypto asset.
According to reports, the decision of Emirates Airlines to accept Bitcoin was in line with UAE’s digital economy goal amidst Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and FTX, requests for approval for companies to set up shops in the Middle East nation.
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