Qatar Airways launched a “QVerse” metaverse experience that simulates boarding one of the company’s luxurious planes. Passengers can now visit “QVerse” to get a virtual preview of their upcoming flight with the help of a digital guide.
Once people visit the “QVerse” homepage, they’re greeted by a Qatar Airways flight attendant who leads them through a virtual version of the International Airport of Hamad. Visitors could then tour Economy and QSuite seats in Qatar Airways’ airplanes.
According to a recent CoinTelegraph report, Qatar Airways plans to expand this initial metaverse offering in the ensuing months. Indeed, the company’s executives believe the metaverse represents a technological breakthrough that will “empower human beings.”
To make its “QVerse” extra immersive, Qatar Airways says it will include compatibility with Meta’s Quest VR headset. The airline also hinted it might soon allow customers to buy NFT boarding passes in the metaverse.
Although Qatar Airways is most interested in refining its “QVerse,” it’s not averse to working with other metaverse platforms. In fact, Qatar Airways told CoinTelegraph it was exploring opportunities in games like Decentraland and The Sandbox.
Airlines Keep Flying into Web3
Qatar Airways is one of many big-name airlines interested in using Web3 in their business strategies. Indeed, not too far from Qatar, the Dubai-based Emirates Airline has ambitious metaverse plans.
As Rarity Sniper recently reported, Emirates’ COO Adel Ahmed Al-Redha said his company is interested in many aspects of blockchain technology, including NFTs, crypto payments, and the metaverse. Emirates says it will soon accept Bitcoin for tickets, and it plans to release NFTs with loyalty perks.
Qantas Airways seems to have a similar idea with its upcoming NFT drops. The Australian airline announced it would mint special NFTs that may offer Qantas Frequent Flyers bonus points.
While the above airlines are still developing their NFTs, AirBaltic has already released a few NFT collections. This Latvia-based company was the first major airline to mint NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. AirBaltic even has a 10K PFP NFT collection called “Planies.”
The smaller Taiwanese airline Tigerair also partnered with the platform MaiCoin to release NFTs featuring its animated tiger mascot. Tigerair also said one lucky NFT holder would win a flight to France.
Speaking of “NFT-backed flights,” the companies TravelX and Air Europa released NFT flight tickets on the Algorand blockchain. In December, passengers flying from Madrid to Miami will use NFTs to board their plane.
As Web3 adoption grows, it may become common to book boarding passes on the blockchain.