Head of NDC Urges Travel Seller Participation

The director of IATA’s New Distribution Capability program urged airlines that are considering NDC pilot projects to include travel sellers in their plans.

“Pilot projects are most valuable if they reflect as closely as possible real live operating environments,” Yanik Hoyles said in the NDC Hub newsletter.

“For this to happen, it is best if the airline is able to involve a travel seller – whether a travel agent, a travel meta search or a corporate booking tool – and their technology partners early on. So, a pilot can be a test, in a ‘safe’ environment, but can also be a small-scale deployment in a defined market.”

Last year, five airlines piloted the NDC shopping schemas.

At the IATA annual general meeting last month, the chief executives of Aeroflot, Aer Lingus and Qatar Airways said their airlines would soon embark on individual NDC pilot projects in order to test the schemas and consider deploying them in their respective environments.

– Michele McDonald