NDC adoption is progressing slowly in U.S. travel agencies
In December 2025, transactions made using NDC accounted for 21.2% of the total processed by the ARC, compared to 20.3% in the same month of 2024. In addition, a total of 1,139 travel agencies reported having carried out transactions using this standard during that month, confirming its increasingly widespread adoption in the air distribution ecosystem.
Although the year-on-year increase?close to one percentage point?may seem moderate, the ARC emphasizes that this is a significant development in a sector where technological transformations are usually gradual. The progress between December 2024 and December 2025 suggests that the investment and adaptation efforts made by the various players are beginning to bear fruit and are consolidating a gradual transition to the new distribution model.
The Business Travel segment is also showing above-average dynamism. Passenger journeys issued via NDC by corporate travel agencies (TMCs) increased by two percentage points in December 2025 compared to the same month of the previous year, rising from 5% to 7%, a progression that doubles that observed in the market as a whole.
Performance varied by type of agency. Traditional leisure agencies also recorded growth in their NDC emissions, with an increase from 11% to 16%. However, online travel agencies (OTAs) reduced their share of this channel, falling from 85% to 77%. This trend contrasts with the experience in Europe, where OTAs have been the first and most enthusiastic adopters of the NDC standard.
Beyond the implementation of this technology, the US air distribution market continues to evolve positively. In 2025, total airline ticket sales through agencies reached $100.4 billion (?94.58 billion), 1% more than in 2024. The total number of passenger journeys stood at around 293 million, representing year-on-year growth of 3%.
In December 2025 alone, sales amounted to $7.2 billion (?6.782 billion), 7% more than in the same month of the previous year, while passenger journeys reached 20.4 million, also an increase of 7%. For the ARC, this context of widespread growth creates a favorable environment for the adoption of NDC to continue advancing in the coming months.
This momentum is also reflected in the strategy of Air France-KLM, which is significantly accelerating its transition to NDC. According to data presented by Hervé Kozar, Air France's sales director, during the Grand Live du Voyage d'Affaires organized by CDS, the group has gone from 10% adoption in the corporate segment at the beginning of 2025 to 27% at the end of the year, practically tripling in just twelve months. In the French market, its leading global market, 55% of sales are already made through NDC, i.e., more than one in two tickets.
However, there are significant differences between agencies: while some TMCs account for around 25% of NDC sales, others already reach levels close to 60%, highlighting different degrees of maturity within the ecosystem itself.
Despite this acceleration, Air France-KLM has once again postponed the application of the surcharge on reservations made using the old EDIFACT standard, which will now be implemented on July 1, 2026. The company advocates a strategy of accompanying the market rather than imposing, with the aim of ensuring that all players are prepared before the measure is rolled out across the board. Its priority, Kozar stresses, is not to collect this surcharge, but to ensure that the industry as a whole migrates to NDC under favorable conditions.
Along with the technological argument, the airline also highlights the economic impact of the new standard, with potential savings of up to ?200 per ticket on long-haul flights in business class, as well as a richer and more differentiated offering. Among the new features is the strengthening of the Train+Air proposal with the incorporation of Ouigo and additional advantages for premium customers, as well as new options that will be progressively rolled out through NDC. All of this reinforces the perception that, despite the complexity of the corporate environment, the transition to the new distribution model is already well underway.