ANA began developing its new GranWhale platform almost a year ago.
Japan’s largest airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) has launched a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, making a bold statement about its web3.0 ambitions. According to the May 30 announcement, the “ANA GranWhale NFT Marketplace”, is a project involving the airline and its subsidiary ANA Neo. It is themed around aviation and features a collection created by aerial photographer Luke Ozawa as its initial collection.
Developers claim that Ozawa’s first digital photo will be converted to NFT on May 30, with one of them sold together with the positive film used to develop its original photo. Part of the statement reads:
“The price is 100,000 yen, and the NFT with positive film will be sold at auction.”
Furthermore, there are plans to release another collection of NFTs by June 7. The second collection will feature NFT conversion of the image of ANA’s first operational Boeing 787 aircraft. As told by the company:
“Selling as a 3D model airplane. There are 787 items each of the two types, for a total of 1,574 items, and the price is 7,870 yen.”
ANA Commits to NFT and Web 3.0
ANA remains the biggest airline in Japan as it reportedly made revenues that surpassed $12 billion in the last year. But despite its relative success, its recent interest in NFTs and the Web 3.0 world catches the eye.
For what it’s worth, ANA began developing its new GranWhale platform almost a year ago. Last August, it started GranWhale as a virtual travel platform. At the time, its major objective was to incorporate “technology, including virtual reality, to recreate the destinations and cultures of the world”.
ANA Neo president Mitsuo Tomita even once explained the meaning of its logo. Tomita says, first there’s a fusion of the virtual and the real. Then he explained that the arrow represents “ANA GranWhale flying straight into the future with stability and growth, where Web 3.0 and metaverse travel will become more commonplace”.
The firm has also confirmed that there are plans to increase its NFT offering shortly. But this may be in the hopes to improve customer experience on its platform. On a broader note, however, ANA also seeks to be at the forefront of the intersection of airlines and Web 3.0.
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