Singapore Airlines will use blockchain to launch a world-first loyalty digital wallet that allows frequent flyers to buy products in everyday settings using Krisflyer miles.

The encryption technology means KrisFlyer members will be able to use a wallet app using “digital KrisFlyer miles” to buy goods and services at participating retailers.

The digital wallet is expected to be rolled out in about six months and will use a privately owned blockchain involving only merchants and partners.

Blockchain was invented as the technology behind bitcoin but it is now being linked to potential applications ranging from copyright protection to voting and airport security.

Banks are also looking at the  technology in variety of applications such as clearing and settlement, payments and customer verification.

“In a really simplistic form, it’s basically turning Krisflyer miles into digital currency,’’ an SIA spokesman said.

This meant that once partners had been signed up a Krisflyer member could in theory go to a café, buy a cup of coffee and use their Krisflyer barcode to pay for it, the spokesman said.

The app would then deduct Krisflyer miles from the purchaser’s account.

The airline said the move came after a successful proof-of-concept exercise involving KMPG Digital Village and Microsoft.

“Innovation has been a key contributor to the success of Singapore Airlines since Day 1 and we are very excited about this world-first initiative, which will bring even more benefits to members of our KrisFlyer programme,” Singapore Airlines chief executive Goh Choon Phong said in a statement.

“This ground-breaking development in which we will be using blockchain technology to ‘digitalise’ KrisFlyer miles is a demonstration of the investment we are making to significantly enhance the digital side of our business for the benefit of our customers.

“It is in line with our recently unveiled Digital Innovation Blueprint, under which we aim to be the world’s leading digital airline.”

Finally, with Boeing’s proposed Boeing 797 there will be an aircraft that all passengers are going to love.

The aerospace giant is expected to launch what will be called the 797 at this years Farnborough Air Show in July and it will have economy seating of just 2-3-2 with huge overhead luggage bins.

The economy seat squeeze will finally be over!

The 797 will be a revolutionary aircraft made of composite material like the 787 and it will be able to economically connect hundreds of new non-stop routes between smaller cities.

Read: Boeing’s exciting crystal ball

Recently Boeing moved one of its top engineers Terry Beezhold, to the program signalling that it is very serious about the aircraft.

Mr. Beezhold has had lead roles in the 787 and was project engineer on the ultra-long-range 777X, which will fly next year.

The Boeing 797 will seat between 220 and 270 passengers and fly for about 10 to 11 hours only.

But the concept is not new.

Both Boeing and McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing) tried to interest airlines in the concept in the 1980s but couldn’t get enough takers at the time.

Fast forward to today and airline interest is sky-high as passenger complaints soar over cramped seating.

Making the twin-engine 797 so special is the fact it is designed from the outset to serve medium-haul routes of up to 9,300kms and will cut fuel costs by 25 to 30 percent compared to the 787- itself the world leader in fuel economy.

Boeing says that there are 30,000 city pairs that are not connected and could be served economically with the 797.

The challenge for airlines today is that Boeing offers the 180-230 seat 737 that can only fly economically for about six hours while the next smallest plane in the Boeing range is the 250-350 seat 787 which has been designed for much longer distances and thus carries a great deal of extra structural weight to carry the fuel required.

There is a similar – although smaller – gap in the Airbus range of planes.

The 797 will fit neatly in between and give airlines great opportunities to open new routes.

For the passenger, the 797 will be a giant step forward in comfort with a 2-3-2 configuration in economy, 1-2-2 in premium economy and 1-1-1 in business class.

Boeing is well advanced in closing the business case and has discussed the aircraft with 57 airlines and the reaction has been enthusiastic.

Boeing hopes to have first flight and certification in 2024 with delivery to airlines early in 2025.

The 797 will have unique oval-shaped fuselage – only possible with composite structure – and will be something like a 767 above the floor and a 737 below.

The company is willing to compromise on cargo space to reduce the profile, and thus drag,  of the aircraft.

It reasons correctly that cargo is not as big of a consideration on the largely secondary routes it will operate.

Families and other groups travelling together are finding that confusing airline seating practices mean that breaking up is not so hard to do.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority is reviewing he fairness and transparency of airline allocated  seating polices after a survey found the current approach left passengers confused about whether they would they would be able to sit with other members of their group.

The survey of more than 4,000 consumers flying as part of a group of two or more in the past year found airlines took different approaches to guaranteeing people could sit together  or even telling them they had to pay.

Those travellers who did not pay were also more likely to be separated from their group on some airlines than others, with Ryanair, Emirates and Virgin Atlantic the lead offenders (see table).

“Airline seating practices are clearly causing some confusion for consumers,’’ CAA chief executive Andrew Haines said in releasing the study.

“Airlines are within their rights to charge for allocated seats, but if they do so it must be done in a fair, transparent way.  Our research shows that some consumers are paying to sit together when, in fact, they might not need to.

“It also suggests that consumers have a better chance of being sat together for free with some airlines than with others.

“The research shows that it is the uncertainty around whether their group will be split up by the airline that is driving consumers to pay for an allocated seat.”

While more than half of the survey  respondents reported their airline informed them before they booked their flight that they would need to pay to ensure their group could sit together, 10 percent were not told until after they booked and a further 10 per cent were not told at all.

Almost half believed that their airline would automatically allocate them seats together while two in five thought their airline would not automatically sit them together.

Among the other findings:

• Almost half of respondents (46 per cent) felt negatively towards the airline when they realised they would have to pay more to guarantee sitting together
• About half of all passengers who sat together did not have to pay an additional charge to do so but 7 percent of respondents  said that they had to change seats either at check-in or on-board to avoid being separated.
• Of the group of respondents that paid extra to sit together, six in ten reported that they did so because of the risk that their airline might split their group up.

The CAA said it would seek more information from airlines to discover whether consumers were  being treated fairly and whether pricing policies were transparent.

Also on the authority’s agenda for 2018 are issues such as improving access to air travel for people with disabilities and ticketing terms and conditions.

Emirates is moving into another key market of powerful South American airline group LATAM and adding Chile to its roster of more than 155 destinations.

The Gulf carrier will add five services a week from July 5  using a two class Boeing 777-200LR to Brazil’s Sao Paulo and then fly on to the Chilean capital of Santiago.

It aims to provide a connection between the increasingly popular South American leisure and business destination and markets such as China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and India.

Tourism to the South American destination has been rising with 5.6 million international visitors heading there in 2016, up from 4.43millon in 2015.

Chile is also home to Asian and Middle East communities that would be a source of visiting friends and relatives (VFR) traffic .

The new service will boost the Gulf carrier’s flights to Sao Paulo to 12 a week and is an addition to a daily Airbus A380 service.

The B777 will offer 38 business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration and 264 in economy. Emirates 777s tend to be configured in the narrower 10-across configuration.

The airline says it will also be able to carry up to 14 tonnes of freight “opening up access to more global markets for Chilean exports such as fish, seafood, cherries, flowers and general perishable goods”.

“The start of our operations to Chile underlines our commitment to South America with our fourth destination on the continent and another five flights to Sao Paulo,’’ Emirates president Tim Clark said in a statement.

“We are pleased to add a destination that has been in strong demand from our customers and look forward to working with stakeholders in Chile to provide our unique product and award-winning service to passengers there.”

Flight EK263 will depart Dubai on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturday and Sundays at 09:05hrs local time, arriving in Sao Paulo at 17:00, before departing again at 18:30 and arriving into Santiago at 21:40 on the same day.

The return flight EK264 will depart Santiago on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturday and Sundays at 01:10 local time, arriving in Sao Paulo at 05:55. EK264 will depart once again from Sao Paulo at 07:45 bound for Dubai where it will arrive at 05:15 the next day.

The airline said the new service was timed to make easy connections to many Asian and Middle Eastern routes.