NDC advances industry by opening doors to new opportunities

The NDC opens doors to many opportunities. We are only at the beginning of this journey. There are great opportunities for personalization, a more advanced multichannel experience and also a simplification of the sale of services through an intuitive and easy-to-use process. These are the conclusions of the latest webinar organized by Amadeus on the new distribution protocol.

As pointed out by the speakers at the presentation, Christian Boutin, general manager of Amadeus Spain and Portugal, and Ludo Verheggen, director of Air Content Acceleration at the same company, the NDC is a standard API in XML format that is part of the deep digital transformation;The NDC is a standard API in XML format that is part of the deep digital transformation that travel distribution is undergoing and is designed to respect all business models and channels.

This protocol is receiving a series of certifications from the International Air Travel Association (IATA) based on levels of integration, from 1 or Basic, which gives access to complementary services, to 4, which allows booking, issuance, purchasing and after-sales service.

As Christian Boutin points out, the NDC means «changing a technology that we have been using for several decades, for a more advanced, recognized and dynamic one, all in real time. This technology facilitates the indirect channel, but does not imply a change in the distribution model. In fact, we work together with travel agencies and airlines. The concept is to integrate the different back office systems and processes so that they are interoperable. With the NDC-X system we are actively collaborating with the industry and our customers, defining solutions together and setting common standards," stresses Ludo Verheggen. Amadeus has signed integration contracts with more than 15 airlines in all regions and is in discussions with other companies. In addition, the Amadeus Selling Platform Connect agency solution will be ready globally in 2021.

According to Verheggen, "What we are going to see in the next few months are going to be cooperative packages with negotiated fares and the different services they include. We are talking to several airlines and in the next few months they will be a reality. He also added that Amadeus is working hard to harmonize and standardize the functionality of the different sources so that all agencies can offer the same level of service.

Through the new technology, the travel agent has access to all content through the same platform and can make comparisons to different websites. Amadeus Travel API is fully operational, with bookings occurring daily, as is the Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense self-booking tool.

The benefits for airlines are clear: offer control, simplified selling, personalization, merchandising distribution, rich content and dynamic pricing management. Amadeus is committed to NDC for its standardization, post-booking functionality, integration and interoperability.