Despite rumours that they have put the idea on hold, Japan\'s Peach Aviation confirmed on February 5th that they still intend to go through with the plan to initiate Bitcoin payments. The timeline has just been temporarily deferred, until the beginning of the new financial year, the airline said.

Peach is the leading carrier in the Japanese budget airline business, and is working with a digital exchange called Bitpoint Japan to set up a cryptocurrency payments processing system. Recent market volatility, and particularly the Coincheck debacle in Tokyo, led some sceptics to think that they would shelve the plan, but this has been vigorously denied by both parties. They are working hard to implement the new systems and will launch when the time is right, possibly at the end of March.

The first announcement of the joint venture was in May 2017, and the project was originally scheduled to roll out last autumn. In December, however, that timeframe was obviously past and a new deadline mentioned, to launch within the 2017/18 fiscal year ending in March.

Peach Aviation operates over 90 flights a day and services 25 national and international routes, with an estimated 13,000 or more passengers every day. As well as ticketing, cryptocurrency initiatives will include airport ATMs and retail payment facilities for accommodation, food and shopping.