SITA takes wraps off Aviation Blockchain Sandbox

The aim of the Aviation Blockchain Sandbox is to accelerate research into the viability of running multi-enterprise apps using distributed ledger technology. Barbara Dalibard, CEO, SITA, says: “We are inviting air transport organisations to work together so that we can collectively see how blockchain could work across our industry. Blockchain holds many promises but exploring these in individual organisations is not the most productive. As the technology company owned by airlines, we are in a position to work neutrally with multiple stakeholders to explore and test multi-enterprise applications. Through this collaborative innovation we will accelerate the learning for all.”

The Aviation Blockchain Sandbox will be led and managed by SITA Lab, SITA’s technology research team, and will develop in three stages. To start, the company is opening the FlightChain project to airlines and airports in September. FlightChain was SITA’s blockchain trial, with British Airways, Heathrow, Geneva Airport and Miami International Airport, using smart contracts for shared control of data.

For the second stage, SITA will work with organisations that wish to test smart contracts across a number of airline and airport operational use cases. During the third stage, which is expected to start in late 2018, it will enable participants to run their own node.

Dalibard comments: “Since we published the results of the FlightChain research, many of our airline and airport customers have expressed an interest in exploring the opportunities of blockchain with us and some have already committed to the Aviation Blockchain Sandbox. We encourage airlines, airports, ground handlers, governments and other organisations with a role in the air transport industry to take advantage of this opportunity to innovate together.”

Further details here.