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“This application addresses an urgent need in our industry to billion every year.
help ensure airline and airport workers have been screened for
COVID-19 and that their fellow passengers have been checked,” Gaining Significance
said Andrew Coleman, chief commercial officer of GE Aviation’s The blockchain technology started gaining sig-
Digital Group. “We need to do everything we can to instill trust nificant traction when Bitcoin2 was launched
and confidence in the traveling public and get the world back to and became popular. Blockchain is the under-
work and flying again.” GE Aviation says its solution is flexible lying technology of Bitcoin and other digital
and medical test agnostic, so it can adapt as regulations evolve. currencies such as Ethereum. The Blockchain
But the aim is to check compliance with health testing protocols technology is currently going through a phase
established by airports, airlines, or countries. The company says in which it is gaining more maturity and the con-
that the personal information and test results are encrypted, and crete benefits are becoming clearer.
access is restricted.
“Blockchain is perhaps the biggest buzzword in
Early last year, key industry partners announced the launch of the the technology landscape today. Put at its sim-
MRO Blockchain Alliance, the air transport’s first industry-wide plest: a Blockchain is a distributed ledger that
investigation into the use of blockchain to track, trace and record provides a way for information to be shared and
aircraft parts. The new alliance comprised leading organisations recorded by a community (DUP2). A major char-
covering every aspect of MRO chain, from part manufacture and acteristic of Blockchain is that every member of
repairs to logistics and smart contracts. Members currently include the network maintains a full copy of the infor-
Bolloré Logistics, Cathay Pacific, FLYdocs, HAECO Group, Ramco mation and there must be a consensus of all
Systems, SITA, and Willis Lease Finance Corporation, supported members to validate any new update to the
by Clyde & Co. The alliance is looking at the use of blockchain to ledger. The information stored can relate to any
digitally track and record the movements and maintenance history digital form of information such as transactions,
of parts across a wide number of players. These include airlines, digital assets, digital identities and even con-
lessors, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as engine tracts. Each new block of information is then
producers, logistics suppliers, and maintenance providers. added to the chain. The revolutionary aspect of
Blockchain, resulting from its distributed nature,
is that each transaction can be accessed by
the whole network. Therefore, there is the
possibility of every party being able to view
every transaction in the history of the network.
With cryptographic algorithms validating how
transactions are bundled into blocks and how
blocks are added (consensus), the integrity and
immutability of the network is ensured. If any
one party tries to defraud or change the ledger,
the network will see their copy is not valid and
reject it,” notes Lory Kehoe, director, EMEA
Blockchain Lab lead, Deloitte Ireland.

According to a report from the leading services
This tracking information will be vital to managing a complex company Accenture, 86 per cent of aerospace
logistics value chain that can span several stakeholders over the and defence companies expect to integrate
lifetime of each individual part. Currently, there is no global data- Blockchain into their corporate systems by the
base, incomplete data sharing, and only partial digitalization. The end of 2021 or early 2022. In a survey by PwC
alliance believes that the use of blockchain will simplify and speed in 2018 of 600 executives from 15 territories, 84
up parts tracking while enabling the secure sharing of information per cent say their organisations have at least
between industry stakeholders. Matthys Serfontein, President of some involvement with Blockchain technology.
Air Travel Solutions for SITA said: “This initiative is part of SITA’s PwC analysis also says that efficiency gains
ongoing exploration of blockchain, a technology that we believe enabled by Blockchain could increase industry
promises tremendous opportunity for streamlining the sharing revenue by as much as 4 per cent annually,
and recording of information across the air transport industry. or US$40 billion, while cutting MRO costs by
In an industry as interconnected as ours, the ability to share and about 5 per cent annually, or US$3.5 billion. As
record common data in a secure way without giving up control of David Dalton, Deloitte EMEA Blockchain Lab
that data is fundamental to driving new efficiencies in air travel. Sponsoring Partner notes, “Blockchain is not
This is particularly true for the MRO sector.” Each year, the MRO just a technology that can help digitize many
industry processes 25 billion parts, while adding three billion new aspects of the airline industry but also create
parts. There are 20,000 suppliers, covering 144,000 flights every new revenue streams and business models.
day for an overall industry market representing around US$100 Early innovators with Blockchain will capture

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