UAE’s largest airlines, Emirates, has included cryptocurrencies in its accepted modes of payments for flyers booking tickets from the country. On Tuesday, Emirates announced a partnership with Crypto.com Pay to let its UAE-based customers use crypto to purchase their tickets. Crypto.com is the digital payment solution that allows users to spend in crypto and earn rewards.
Under the partnership, eligible UAE residents will be able to pay for their Emirates tickets in crypto which Crypto.com Pay settling the payments in the AED currency.
The development comes a year after Emirates first signed an MoU with the Crypto.com exchange. The MoU entailed this crypto-for-tickets integration into the airline’s payment systems.
“This initiative reflects the rapidly evolving preferences of a younger, digitally fluent generation who manage their money and journeys primarily from their phones,” said Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Office. “Moving from signature to launch with Crypto.com in a year is a credit to both teams, and to a regulatory environment that makes this kind of innovation possible.”
In the coming days, flyers booking tickets through the Emirates website will start to see the option to book through Crypto.pay.
While mobile users will be redirected to the Crypto.com app to complete the payment from their wallet, web users will have to scan a QR codes to initiate the payments.
“This launch supports the Dubai Cashless Strategy under the D33 Economic Agenda, which aims to make 90 percent of all financial transactions across government and private sectors digital by the end of 2026,” the announcement said.
