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Aviation Industry
The aerospace industry is searching for innovative results to boost its business in a sector that operates in a cut-throat competitive environment. Blockchain is a disruptive technology that has the potential to affect various stakeholders and replace current platforms. Most people associate blockchain with cryptocurrencies but it’s a cutting-edge technology that may optimize performance of aviation industry. At the most basic level, every blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions that take place on a peer-to-peer network with the ability to control access to data. The five core issues determining the adoption of blockchain by the industry are: Specific adoption factors, the replacement of current centralized platforms, customer loyalty, adoption barriers and a general lack of awareness.
The aerospace industry is vast, complex, interconnected and growing rapidly. Depending on its size, a plane can include anywhere from a few hundred thousand parts to several million. But there’s no readily available single snapshot that can show an aircraft’s condition or history. Maintenance companies frequently log records by hand. Those records are often shared in stacks of printed PDFs. Even when data is digitized, it is spread across (and isolated within) multiple parties and systems. Suppliers, vendors, and customers of the same manufacturer, who may also compete against one another, are reluctant to share information. By ensuring that participants have access only to the information they are entitled to, blockchain could simultaneously improve participants’ visibility into their own businesses while safeguarding their data from competitors.
The first group of stakeholders that stand to gain from the unique benefits of blockchain are the operators (airlines and air cargo carriers) who will reap the revenue associated with increased aircraft availability. But other participants in the ecosystem could also benefit from improved parts traceability through verifying their location and use or the ability to create innovative revenue models. This opportunity will exist for incumbent manufacturers and maintenance companies, as well as startups working on traceability, outsourcing, and air-traffic control solutions.
Blockchain’s decentralized and inimitable nature offers the capacity to assign a “digital date” for every part and update it each time the part moves through the supply chain or is installed on a plane. The part’s status also gets updated every time the plane is serviced or inspected by a technician. That part’s digital record could include the aircraft’s tail number and configuration, the part’s location in the plane, its manufacturer, the identity of each technician who has touched the part, and the location where the service was performed. These digital records can be aggregated into a “digital log” of the aircraft to provide a real-time snapshot of its condition from the moment it exits the assembly line to the day decades later when it is returned to its lessor or retired from service.
Having a more accurate view of a plane’s configuration and maintenance history could help reduce costs and losses, boost asset availability and increase the value of planes in the secondary market and at the end of leases and improve worker productivity. Blockchain has some unique attributes that will enable it to serve as a powerful tool for the industry.
Homestay Financing
In order to reduce pressure on hotels and help the local community reap the dividends of fast flourishing tourism sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan (GB), the government has approved home hospitality scheme at tourist hotspots. Homestay tourism offers an accommodation where a tourist gets a chance to live with the host family and experience the local culture. It is estimated that approx. a million tourists visit GB whereas the number of hotels is less than 1,000. With one hotel room for every 5,500 inhabitants, Pakistan has fewer hotel rooms per capita than Egypt (1:98), Indonesia (1:65) and every other comparable country of its size. In 2018, the regional government had to open government schools during vacations to accommodate tourists visiting the area.
Homestay financing is a popular tourism concept across many countries of the globe; Nepal, Tajikistan and many other countries have already developed homestay tourism industries. It not only boosts tourism but also strengthens the economy and improves the living standards of the people living in far-flung areas of the country. The scheme has a huge upside potential with a byproduct of engaging people of the area within the framework of tourism policy. It will have a tourist multiplier effect as the local community will reap the dividends of tourism in their own areas and own tourism. It will also offer tourists an opportunity to find relatively cheap accommodation, away from the often-congested hustle and bustle of main tourist centers and get a taste of local culture and hospitality.
Under this scheme, residents (young educated men of 29 years or above) near tourist spots would be offered soft loans, ranging from Rs400,000 to Rs1,300,000, for construction of one-to-three room structures near their houses so they could be rented out to tourists visiting the area. Repayment of loan period would be up to 5-10 years depending on assessment of the area and entrepreneur. Funds from youth affairs schemes of similar nature would also be utilized for the said purpose. The government needs to promote homestay concept among tourists via print media, digital media and social media. They also need to take tour operators on board to promote homestays among the tourists.
