UK-based private jet charter flight booking service PrivateFly has announced that bitcoin (BTC) payments accelerated this past January.
Payments in BTC generated 19% of the company’s revenue last month, and 13% of the flights were paid in bitcoin. This is a robust increase compared with the typical 1%-2% monthly share of such payments PrivateFly posted in recent years. The company did not provide any other numbers.
The aviation business, which started accepting BTC in 2014, claims that the recent spike in bitcoin’s value helped the company too.
“We’ve accepted bitcoin payments for many years now, but transactions in the cryptocurrency have really taken off in recent months, alongside its climb in value,” PrivateFly said in a statement.
BTC jumped by around 180% in the past three months and, today, surpassed the USD 50,000 level for the first time, before correcting lower again.
Meanwhile, the company said that, in addition to bitcoin, it also accepts payments in other cryptoassets and stablecoins, such as ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), and USD coin (USDC), among others.
“And ever since we’ve seen a small proportion of clients choosing this option, for one-off flights or our Jet Account membership, which gives clients streamlined booking and additional benefits when they place funds on account with us. Clients pay us via BitPay, and we immediately transfer the funds into pounds, euros or dollars,” according to the business.
Also, in response to the growing demand from its customers, the company decided to launch a new membership program, the Bitcoin Jet Account, which enables them to keep their funds in BTC.
“We saw that while some cryptocurrency-paying clients wanted to realize their gains, others wanted to hold onto their bitcoin, so their account balance would move in relation to traditional currencies (both positively or negatively of course),” according to PrivateFly.
Cryptonews.com has contacted the company for comment.
As many carriers across the world are struggling to stay financially afloat due to the ongoing pandemic, numerous companies reach out to cryptocurrencies to generate additional revenue streams.
Last September, South Korean budget airline and Korean Air affiliate Jin Air joined forces with blockchain-powered travel and rewards points firm Mil.k to initiate a crypto-powered promotional offer for flight tickets. Earlier in 2020, another budget airline, Norwegian, announced it aimed to enable customers to pay for tickets using cryptocurrency within the year, hoping the new functionality would help improve its financial results. However, the company is currently subject to bankruptcy protection in Ireland, but claims that the government of Norway is ready to help the airline financially, per scandasia.com.
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