S7 Airlines, a member of the oneworld® global airline alliance, and Raiffeisenbank have completed the integration project launched at the beginning of 2020. From now on, agents serviced by Raiffeisenbank will be able to interact with S7 Airlines directly through the airline’s blockchain platform and instantly carry out operations for issuing and refunding tickets. At the beginning of the year, S7 Airlines switched to a new version of the platform — and now the transaction time only takes 15 seconds.
When an airline ticket is being booked, the system sends a request to the bank, receives a confirmation of sufficient funds in the agent’s account, and withdraws the required amount — without any bank guarantees or deposits. Thus, the airline receives sale proceeds minus the agent’s commission immediately after the ticket is issued, without a delay of several days.
Agents can switch to the new payment system without any additional efforts or costs. Agents can confirm the purchase of tickets via the familiar S7 Airlines interface, and they can track payment transactions using Raiffeisenbank’s remote service systems. The transparency of the process significantly increases its reliability for its participants.
“One of the key objectives for this year is to expand the blockchain platform of S7 Airlines by partnering with large banks and working with new commercial industries.
Raiffeisenbank’s clients can now make automated transactions on the S7 TechLab platform, which will help improve their operational efficiency. In addition to the collaboration with S7 Airlines, my colleagues and I are also considering launching new business scenarios for this kind of automation in other industries, including foreign markets, ” says Nikolai Mukhanov, CEO of S7 TechLab.
“S7 Airlines is our long-term partner, and we value our cooperation with the largest privately-owned airline in Russia. We strive to increase our clients' efficiency through a simple and convenient integration of our solutions while taking business processes into account, and that has been achieved in this project. We hope that S7 Airlines will soon appreciate the benefits of integrating Raiffeisenbank’s automated transaction service into its blockchain platform. Our objective is to be a reliable partner and always meet the expectations of corporate businesses, ” says Dmitry Sredin, Head of Large Corporate Clients Division & Head of Investment Banking at Raiffeisenbank.
S7 Airlines' blockchain platform is based on the Hyperledger Fabric protocol. This is the first project with an online payment infrastructure that includes everything from booking tickets to processing bank payments. The implementation of the platform has helped shorten transaction time and reduce the amount of paperwork, all the while guaranteeing transaction security.
