SITA’s NDC Project ‘Won’t Upset the Apple Cart’

SITA, an airline-owned IT company based in Geneva, is working on a New Distribution Capability project that it promises “will not upset anyone’s apple cart,” according to Ian Tunnacliffe, a SITA business consultant.

The goal of the project is to meet some of IATA’s objectives without undue disruption to either GDS companies or the travel agents that use their services.

That potential for disruption was a key issue during two years of rancor over NDC.

A bit of background
The rancor dates to early 2012, when IATA stated in its Airlines International magazine that “a single industry standard platform, connecting airlines, agencies and consumers, and facilitating the correct information flow, would resolve the problem” of the “GDS bottleneck.”

It took a lot of explaining, and a bit of back-pedaling, for IATA to reach a truce with the very vocal opponents of NDC last January.

The truce – an agreement with Open Allies for Airfare Transparency, which includes the GDS companies and many of their travel agency customers – paved the way for the Transportation Department’s approval earlier this month of Resolution 787, the foundation document of NDC.

It’s complicated
Meanwhile, it has become increasingly apparent that very few airlines have the wherewithal or the will to embrace the full NDC vision, in which shoppers would be dished up personalized offers of bundles of products and services based on their status and history with the airline and whatever demographic information they choose to provide.

Helen Porter, senior director of portfolio strategy for SITA Passenger Solutions, said that implementing NDC in its pure definition “will require some commercial changes, and we have to think through how that will affect relationships.”

But many airlines simply want to find ways to deliver their ancillary services to a broader audience, notably the lucrative corporate market served by travel management companies and their GDS providers.

An alternate vision
That is where SITA has chosen to focus its initial NDC efforts. It is proposing to create an application that would be relatively inexpensive and quick to build. It would be designed to work either with a GDS or a direct-access connection.

“All three GDSs have desktops that allow plug-in applications,” Tunnacliffe said.

Travel agents would continue to construct availability displays and flight itineraries
using their existing processes. The system would then query airlines in the display for additional information on selected flights.

Aggregated info for agencies
The additional information, most likely provided by the airlines’ e-commerce platforms, could include seat attributes, such as pitch, recline and power outlets; meal and snack options; Wi-Fi and inflight entertainment, and luxury amenities such as showers and massage.

The airlines “can send back whatever they want to send back,” Tunnacliffe said, whether photos, video or text. “We will aggregate the information and send it to the agency as an overlay or a pop-up.”

SITA is currently seeking airline participants to participate in a proof-of-concept pilot. “As soon as we have one, we’ll register the pilot with IATA,” Tunnacliffe said.