IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2021 - 5

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1) We highlight and explore the role of blockchain in
aviation industry.
2) We discuss the key opportunities offered by blockchain technology in aviation industry.
3) We introduce a conceptual blockchain-based framework to highlight layerwise services and interactions among aviation system components.
4) We present recently reported synergies and case
studies to show the full potential of blockchain technology in aviation industry.
5) We summarize our key findings by discussing open
research issues and challenges that may hinder the
adoption of blockchain technology in aviation
industry.
The sections within this article identify and discuss the
opportunities of blockchain technology in the aviation
industry; present case studies to discuss ongoing blockchain-assisted projects in the aviation industry; and provide discussion on research issues and challenges. We
then conclude the article and point out future research
directions.

OPPORTUNITIES OF BLOCKCHAIN IN AVIATION
INDUSTRY
The aviation industry involves the services of many
entities, such as aircraft manufacturers, airports, airlines, aircraft spare parts manufacturers, and aircraft
ground handlers. Blockchain technology has gained

much admiration because of its distributed decentralized operations. Figure 1 highlights several potential
opportunities for blockchain technology in the aviation
industry.

SECURING CUSTOMERS LOYALTY PROGRAMS
A customer loyalty program, also known as frequent flyer
miles, offers financial benefits to the frequent flying passengers for using the airline services. Current systems
that manage customer loyalty programs face several challenges, such as reward low redemption rate, high maintenance cost, and threats to data loss. In 2017, 11% of the
data theft attacks targeted loyalty accounts. Also, current
systems are overcomplicated and tend to benefit business
organizations rather than customers. It is estimated that
due to the complex redeeming method, 36% of the travelers do not redeem the loyalty reward [10]. Traditional
customer loyalty programs require passengers to wait
until adequate points are accumulated to claim the
reward. Also, traditional systems present limited transparency in generating, redeeming, or transferring loyalty
points to the users.
It is believed that blockchain technology can tokenize
the customer's reward points to instantly use them when
an adequate amount of tokens are collected [11]. Blockchain ensures that no airline, hackers, or even any third
party responsible to manage and control the loyalty
accounts can modify redemption rules or tokens earned by
the passengers. The traceability feature facilitates assembling trusted data provenance related to redemption. The
operational transparency, visibility, and traceability can

Figure 1.
Areas of opportunities for blockchain technology in aviation.

MARCH 2021

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2021