Lufthansa and SWISS team up with Camino in Web3 hackathon to tackle travel’s toughest challenges

Lufthansa and SWISS are shaking up how travel gets sold—this time through blockchain. In a bold push to rethink flight distribution, the two airlines teamed up with the Camino Network Foundation to host a Web3 Hackathon in Frankfurt.

Over 48 hours, travel tech teams from 13 companies built blockchain- and AI-powered prototypes aimed at slashing distribution costs, improving sustainability, and speeding up time-to-market.

Unlike the typical hackathon full of theory, this one was all about real-world execution. Each team worked on the Camino Network, a blockchain built specifically for the travel sector. Projects tackled everything from local payments and CO₂ tracking to personalized group bookings and market expansion.

The Standout Projects

A jury of Lufthansa Group executives highlighted three projects with clear commercial potential:

• Unimoni developed a solution to onboard 300,000 non-IATA travel agencies in India onto the Camino Network. It supports local payments and provides direct access to Lufthansa flight content, cutting distribution costs and opening up new markets, with room to scale globally.

• A team from SWISS and Digital Hangar introduced an upgraded Travel-ID concept that integrates with Web3 wallets. The system lets users issue, exchange, and manage digital IDs and tokenized travel services like vouchers—all in one secure space.

• Hotelplan created a group booking tool for travelers starting in different locations but heading to the same destination. It allows users to book together and pay separately, streamlining a typically clunky process.

The jury also gave a special “Winner of the Hearts” award to Carbify, a team that built a carbon compensation platform with traceable, geolocated data on tree planting, adding transparency to CO₂ offsetting.

What the Organizers Are Saying

Mickael Woelcke, project manager at SWISS and one of the hackathon’s lead organizers, said:

“It was impressive to see teams integrate LHG flight content into live platforms in just two days. This kind of tech has clear commercial potential—especially when you consider faster partner onboarding and much lower distribution costs.”

Pablo Castillo, CEO of Chain4Travel, the team behind Camino, added:

“Connections that used to take months can now happen in days. Hotelplan showed cost savings of up to 98%, and Carbify’s tool suggested up to 50% better sustainability scores. That’s a big leap.”

Jury Panel

The projects were evaluated by a panel of Lufthansa Group executives and digital leaders:

• Ana Jaime Agramon – Head of Digital Products & IT Portfolio, SWISS

• Ignatz Hannak – Head of Digital Ecosystem Steering & Innovation, Lufthansa Airlines

• Jochen Göttelmann – VP IT Lufthansa Airlines and Operations IT Lufthansa Group

• Sebastian Riedle – Chief Product Officer and Managing Director, Digital Hangar

• Tim Fischbach – Head of Touristic Sales Home Markets, Lufthansa Airlines

What’s Next?

Lufthansa Group is now evaluating which of the winning ideas will move toward pilot applications. Chain4Travel says it will continue helping travel companies apply Web3 in ways that actually solve problems, not just sound futuristic.

The Camino Network, the backbone of all the projects, is a layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for travel. Backed by over $10 million in funding, more than 100 validators, and 200+ travel brands, Camino aims to fix the long-standing inefficiencies in how travel content gets distributed, paid for, and settled.

Watch the event video below.