Emirates to Add Bitcoin as a Payment Option

The largest airline in the UAE, Emirates has announced that it would be adding bitcoin to its payment options and will also allow the trade of NFT collectibles on the company’s website. 

The Dubai-based airline is also planning to use blockchain technology to trace aircraft records, Emirates’ chief operating officer Adel Ahmed Al-Redha said during a media gathering at the international travel trade show, the Arabian Travel Market.  

However, the COO has yet not announced when these new features will be applicable, but he has revealed its plans to hire new employees to focus on the implementation and management of crypto payments, blockchain tracking, metaverse, and non-fungible token projects. 

With Dubai-based businesses adopting blockchain and crypto, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority of Dubai has also made its official foray into the metaverse. It has purchased land in the Sandbox metaverse recently with plans to virtual headquarters, called MetaHQ. 

It is not the first time an airline is accepting crypto payments. A number of other airlines already accept crypto payments. Latvian airline airBaltic was the first airline to accept bitcoin payments for its tickets starting in 2014. The airline now accepts ether and dogecoin as payment also.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele also announced in October 2021 that the Central American nation’s low-cost airline Volaris will accept bitcoin, but the new payment method is yet not implemented.