Travel agencies explicitly support Amadeus NDC-X program

The main travel agency associations have issued a statement expressing their support for the program developed by Amadeus to implement the use of the NDC booking protocol. The agents value the integrative approach of the technology provider as opposed to what some describe as "unilateral imposition" by the airlines.

The statement has been signed by the Confederación Española de Agencias de Viajes (CEAV), the Asociación Corporativa de Agencias de Viajes Especializadas (ACAVE) and the Unión Empresarial de Agencias de Viajes (UNAV). These associative entities group together more than 3,500 travel agencies throughout Spain, with more than 5,000 points of sale.

The NDC-X program is based on Amadeus Travel Platform, the development that integrates all relevant content for travelers (flights, accommodations, car rental or insurance) regardless of its source, for distribution through any channel or device.

Thus, travel agency customers will be able to search, compare and book NDC content alongside content from other sources in an integrated way and within the same workflow.

In the opinion of Rafael Gallego, president of CEAV, “50 percent of flights sold worldwide have been made thanks to travel agencies, which generate 34% more yield than a direct booking. That's why the agency voice is crucial when it comes to implementing NDC technology. We think the Amadeus NDC-X program is an excellent starting point, because from the outset it has a willingness to involve all industry players”.

According to the president of ACAVE, Martín Sarrate, “until now the NDC has been a solution imposed unilaterally by the airlines, but to be successful and to be able to offer the best experience to our customers, the NDC has to have the opinion of travel agents from the very beginning. That is why the Amadeus NDC-X program, and the integrative vision it contains, seems to us in principle to be of interest in order to achieve this cooperation.

Carlos Garrido, president of UNAV, for his part, believes that “the future of the NDC, and above all the future of the service we all provide to our customers, depends on a vision shared by all the agents that make up the travel and tourism sector. In that sense, we believe that the approach proposed by the NDC-X program is in line with our approach.

In line with the NDC-X program, Amadeus is developing a single, robust platform that brings together all of the content that the industry currently has to offer, regardless of where it comes from;l is its origin, so that it can be distributed, in a transparent and uniform way, through any channel or device”, says Fernando Cuesta, general manager of Amadeus in Spain and Portugal.