Finnair becomes first carrier to go live with Amadeus Nevio NDC
With Surbhi Marwah, Vice President, Digital, Revenue, and Retail, Finnair, and Ghaleb Rostom, Senior Vice President, Product Management, Airlines, Amadeus.
Finnair has become the first airline to implement a fully Offer- and Order-based NDC solution based on Amadeus Nevio, representing another major milestone in modern airline retailing.
Here, we interview Surbhi Marwah from Finnair and Amadeus’ own Ghaleb Rostom to explore what this transformative step means for the flag carrier, its passengers, and the wider industry.
Finnair going live with Nevio NDC has been described as a major step forward for the airline retailing transformation. In practical terms, what has changed for airline distribution?
Ghaleb Rostom, SVP, Product Management, Airlines, Amadeus: Finnair has been a pioneer in digital retailing, was the first airline to create a fully IATA compliant native Order, and was one of the earliest carriers to invest heavily in modern NDC and direct channels. Its collaboration with our teams at Amadeus has been instrumental in shaping the Nevio Offer and Order ecosystem.
Today we take the next step, as Finnair becomes the first airline worldwide to implement Nevio NDC. This landmark further strengthens an already advanced retail approach at the flag-carrier, with multiple ancillary bundles already available on the market through direct channels.
What does this mean? For the first time, the NDC touchpoint of an airline is natively connected to an Offer and Order management system, enabling true end-to-end retailing moving from a PSS-based to an Offer and Order based model. This is another step in delivering next-generation airline retailing.
How does this change the way airlines create, sell, and manage products – and what does this look like in practice at Finnair?
Surbhi Marwah, VP Digital, Revenue & Retail, Finnair: For us at Finnair, this means that, for the first time, are able to offer real bundled products via NDC channels to our seller partners. These bundles are created in the Product Catalogue, powered by Amadeus Nevio, and distributed through native NDC flows. The products are first launched on our pilot platform, the Finnair Agency Sales Tool (FAST), and will later be distributed across all NDC-powered platforms and aggregators. This will significantly reduce time-to-market and enable us to offer more innovative retailing products across all our touchpoints.
Ghaleb Rostom: This transformation gives airlines like Finnair much greater control over how its products are created, distributed, and managed. Over the coming weeks and months, we will continue to deliver additional capabilities which bring tangible value. For example, the carrier can create and manage Offers centrally through the Offer Management System, independent of the sales channel, making it easier to distribute new bundles and more dynamic Offers consistently across all touchpoints. This means greater flexibility in how products are packaged and sold, while maintaining a consistent customer experience across channels. Transitioning to an Order-based model will open up richer retailing capabilities, including new ancillaries, dynamic bundles, third-party content, and more optimized pricing.
It will also simplify retailing and operations by keeping the full journey within a single Order, so changes, cancellations, and post-booking updates are less complex, easier to trace end to end, producing clearer and more consistent traveler views across any channel. In the future, it will also support ticketless, Order-based settlement and full lifecycle management. New seller management capabilities will also make it easier to onboard, support, and optimize distribution partners.
You mention that NDC is now connected to an Offer and Order system. What does this transformation enable that was not possible before?
Ghaleb Rostom: Connecting NDC directly to an Offer and Order system will enable Finnair to move beyond traditional models and distribute native Offers and Orders across indirect channels. This supports modern retailing capabilities such as richer content, ancillary bundles, personalization, and optimized pricing, allowing the airline to deliver more relevant Offers consistently across all channels.
It also gives Finnair greater control over how indirect distribution partners are configured, managed, and optimized. The transition is designed to be seamless, with existing NDC connectivity maintained to ensure business continuity while new capabilities are introduced where they deliver clear value.
What difference will this make for travelers and for travel sellers across different channels?
Surbhi Marwah: For travelers, this means a more seamless and tailored travel experience. All NDC-connected travel sellers will have access to the new products and capabilities enabled by Nevio-based native NDC. In the long term, this will support our retailing strategy by enabling us to provide dynamic, personalized offers through all modern distribution channels.
Finnair has been an early mover in this space, what tangible benefits have you seen so far? And, what does this signal for the wider industry?
Surbhi Marwah: Our NDC share has grown steadily over the years, creating a strong foundation for next-generation retailing capabilities, such as dynamic pricing. For ancillary sales, we expect to see the same positive results continue, as we have seen in our direct channels following the launch of our first bundles. This demonstrates to the wider industry that the significant efforts invested in distribution transformation will pay off.
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