French multinational insurance firm AXA last week unveiled a blockchain-based insurance product that offers automatic compensation to air passengers if their flights are delayed.

AXA describes “fizzy” as:

“A 100% automated, 100% secure platform for parametric insurance against delayed flights.

“fizzy is a fresh new genre in insurance. It offers direct, automatic compensation to policyholders whose flights are delayed. If your plane is more than two hours late, fizzy will reimburse you immediately.”

The new platform uses Ethereum blockchain to record the purchase of flight delay insurance, which makes the insurance contract tamperproof. This smart contract is connected to global air traffic databases and when it detects a delay of over two hours, it automatically triggers the compensation for the policyholder.

The platform is currently being tested on direct flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and the United States, in either direction.

"Through Fizzy, the independent smart contract, rather than the insurer, triggers consumer indemnification. I believe this is a new element of insurance architecture that will become mainstream in future offers,” Laurent Benichou director of R&D at AXA GIE said, as quoted by Finextra.

In the forthcoming months, AXA plans to expand the solution internationally and develop partnerships with airline companies, travel agencies and airports to further improve users’ travel experience.

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