Spain’s largest airline Vueling is partnering with Bitpay and UATP to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies starting from 2023. Despite the current bear market of cryptocurrencies, we still see that companies and organizations are adopting cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. In most economies, the private sector has always been the largest employer of labour and for the private sector to start accepting cryptocurrencies is bullish for the crypto community despite the downtimes.

As the world’s number one cryptocurrency keeps gaining acceptance globally, it is trading at $16,168.10 and it is down by 3.20% on the gate.io crypto exchange trading platform. Investors withdraw liquidity from exchanges like Gate.io, which has positive effect on the most cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin started this week on a bearish trend but after the Feds announced the new hike in interest rate, BTC and most altcoins bounced back with BTC rising above $20,000 and then at $15,257 at press time. This announcement is bullish for the cryptocurrency community.

Vueling Partnership With Bitpay And UTAP

Vueling S.A. is a Spanish low-cost airline based in Greater Barcelona belonging to the International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG). The company entered a partnership with Bitpay, which is the world’s largest bitcoin provider and cryptocurrency payment provider to enable its customers to make payments for their tickets using cryptocurrencies.

Jesús Monzó, manager of distribution strategy and alliances at Vueling in a press statement noted that “With this agreement, Vueling once again reaffirms its position as a digital airline.” He stated that they are pleased to partner with Bitpay.

The Vice President of Marketing at BitPay Merrick Theobald stated that “Vueling recognizes the potential of cryptocurrencies to transform the airline industry, making payments faster, more secure, and less expensive on a global scale. Our goal at BitPay is to make the acceptance of cryptocurrencies a seamless process and increase its adoption, as we believe that cryptocurrencies are the future of payments.”

Moreover, the company also struck a deal with Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP), a global travel payment solution for connection for alternative forms of payment for travel-related expenses. This partnership will enable the company to leverage the technology provided by UATP for a seamless payment process for the customers of the largest Airline in Spain, Vueling.

Rachel Morowitz, SVP Partner Processing, UATP stated that “Offering cryptocurrency as a form of payment to the buying public is a must in this digital age of payments. UATP and BitPay partnered to bring this option to the airline industry and are fulfilling the rising demand of Vueling’s customers to pay with cryptocurrency,”. “It’s an exciting time in payments, and we look forward to watching this partnership, and Vueling’s use of cryptocurrencies accelerate quickly.”

For a start, this option of payment will be available for individuals on Vueling’s website and it will accept 13 cryptocurrencies from 2023 which include Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Shiba Inu among others. The ticket prices will still be displayed in Euros and customers can make payments through the numerous wallets available through the Bitpay ecosystem in any of the 13 cryptocurrencies that will be accepted.

The payment method with cryptocurrencies will be a push transaction, meaning the user sends the exact amount, rather than a withdrawal-like traditional credit or debit cards, this is to eliminate transaction fraud and phishing. As cryptocurrency adoption keeps gaining dominance, we will see in the future more companies accepting cryptocurrencies as means of payment and this will keep increasing the utility of cryptocurrencies.