Farelogix Intros ‘Lite’ NDC Solution
by Michele McDonald /Farelogix launched NDC-Xpress, a technology solution that enables airlines to adopt the New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard with minimal risk.
For travel agents, it could mean an introduction to the world of NDC with minimal disruption.
Farelogix is actively courting GDSs to work with NDC-Xpress.
Jim Davidson, chief executive officer of Farelogix, said the solution is a win all around, providing agents, airlines and GDSs with the benefit of differentiated airline content.
In the past, Davidson has been at loggerheads with GDS companies, but that hatchet has been buried. “I’m knocking on GDS doors, and they say, ‘Come on in,’” he said.
Smoother transition for agents
Working with GDSs on the Xpress version would ensure that NDC is introduced in a way that does not turn agents’ daily lives upside down. The changes in airline distribution would more likely be evolutionary than revolutionary.
Davidson believes that NDC-Express and other “lite” versions of NDC technologies will help jumpstart the move to better merchandising through third-party channels. “We’re not going to get there until we get a few of these things up and running,” he said.
What agents ultimately see on their screens depends how GDSs display the content, but in general it will be “more ancillary products consistent with what is on airline websites,” he said.
In testing the solution, “we’re seeing real opportunities,” Davidson said. “It’s not just bag fees and change fees. There’s pretty significant uptake in seat selection,” he said.
“It’s generating some decent revenue, and my guess is [airlines] are sharing some of it.”
How it works
NDC-Xpress is based on the core technologies of FLX Airline Commerce Gateway, Farelogix’ full-blown NDC product.
Rather than striving for the full NDC vision, it will deliver the shopping and pricing pieces of the air travel chain.
Implementation at an airline can take less than six months using Version 1.1 of the NDC standard air shop schema.
Farelogix will develop the airline’s application programming interface (API), and it recommends that airlines expose the API to the GDSs.
Xpress will run “in the cloud,” also called the Software as a Service, or Saas, model.