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Preparations for NDC distribution
New Distribution Capability (NDC) deployment has been accelerating among airlines, with the technology rapidly maturing. The development is all about bringing new retailing capabilities to travel distribution, benefiting all actors in the corporate selling value chain, starting with the corporate traveler themselves. With NDC technology, customization can reach a new level and paves the way for a new type of retailing for travel.
It allows for new ways of bundling offers, which can be tailor-made on contextual information, or be presented to travel sellers or travelers in a richer, more informative way thanks to images, more detailed information and more.
Corporate travel is, however, a complex ecosystem. Searching and selling a flight is only one small piece of the puzzle for Business Travel Agencies.
NDC also needs to fit end-to-end, meaning efficient mid- and back-office integration, automated payment reconciliation and reporting, automation or omnichannel servicing and more.
This requires significant preparation; Business Travel Agencies have largely taken the first steps on this journey, but work remains to be done until adoption arrives at scale.
When questioned about preparations for NDC, only one option – ‘Trained our team for NDC and its implications’ – was selected by more than half of Travel Technology Investment Trends respondents. Yet only 1% of Business Travel Agencies said they have taken no action at all on NDC, though this figure rose to 6% in LATAM.
What preparations
have
agencies made
for
IATA’s NDC?
%
Trained our team for NDC and its implications
%
Secured access to a wide range of airline NDC content
%
Invested to ensure we can operate with both EDIFACT and NDC over the coming years
%
Ability to fully change and service NDC bookings
%
Ability to merchandise new NDC offers e.g., display ancillary services
%
Updated our mid- and back-office systems for NDC
%
We haven’t made any preparations for IATA’s NDC
Business Travel Agencies suggest securing access to NDC content (cited by 42% of respondents), working with multiple content formats, such as NDC, EDIFACT and APIs (41%) and managing commercial relationships with airlines (40%) as the biggest challenges related to NDC.
What are the biggest challenges for Business Travel Agencies when preparing for NDC?
%
Securing access to airline NDC content
%
Brining NDC content together with other formats like EDIFACT
%
Managing commercial relationships with airlines around NDC content
%
Being able to service NDC bookings
%
Running systems for multiple content formats in parallel
%
Merchandising NDC content
%
The back-office implications of NDC
%
We are not facing any challenges preparing for IATA’s NDC
“Successful utilization of NDC is increasingly vital for Business Travel Agencies.”
Ludo Verheggen
Director, Air Distribution Product Marketing
Amadeus
Amadeus recently unveiled a study with Avianca, demonstrating progress from the airline with NDC since signing an expanded agreement with Amadeus in 2021 to supply the travel agency community with its full range of NDC content.
Not only is the airline seeing double-digit growth in its NDC bookings, but the airline has re-focused its commitment to its agency partners too.
“We value our relationships with the agency community and their contribution to our growth. Avianca considers travel sellers and distribution partners as key actors and will look to continue building strong relations with them.”
Catalina Nannig
VP, Sales and Distribution
Avianca
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