Moving to Offer, Order, and beyond: a practical guide for airlines
I spend a lot of time with airlines working through how to move to Offers and Orders. The direction is increasingly clear, reinforced by IATA's High-Level Industry Roadmap to 100% Offers and Orders. But agreeing on the destination is the easy part. What determines the pace is the plumbing.
No airline transforms alone. An Order may need to be understood by a codeshare partner still working with tickets. Availability must be presented consistently through a travel seller and an airline's own app. A bag must be accepted at an airport running systems that were not designed to handle Orders. The same applies to loyalty, revenue accounting, disruption management, interline operations, and settlement. Each depends on technology and processes managed by other organizations, with their own priorities and timelines.
This is the practical work behind the transition, and it is why we have set out what we have learned.
A practical guide based on real transitions
We have published a guide based on our work with more than 20 airlines and their partners, including the first airline to create Orders natively. Based on defined transition objectives, it sets out an eight-step methodology. For a full-service carrier, the journey could span four years, depending on its starting point, business priorities, and the dependencies across its wider ecosystem.
The methodology helps airlines move progressively, create value along the way, and maintain business continuity throughout.
Coexistence by design
The first step is to deploy Offers and Orders in the airline’s channels. And this requires a synchronization mechanism between traditional and new systems: a set of processes supporting the co-existence of PSS and Offer-Order-based systems. This allows airlines to introduce new capabilities while continuing to work with existing infrastructure, maintaining operational and business stability. Everything that follows depends on this bridge working reliably.
The same principle applies throughout. Airlines need consistent availability across new and traditional systems, modern distribution alongside existing channels, and the ability to test new stock and Order capabilities safely before they affect customers or operations.
The programs that progress most effectively and bring the most value are not necessarily the fastest. They are the ones that identify dependencies early, agree responsibilities clearly, and prepare the strategy and process changes to make the most of the transformation opportunity early.
Creating value during the transition
Airlines recognize that this transition requires significant investment, organizational change and sustained commitment across multiple functions. The key is to create measurable value throughout the journey rather than waiting for a final end state. Capabilities such as more advanced flight and ancillary pricing, enhanced offer creation, and more efficient servicing can be introduced early, improving commercial performance and operational efficiency while the wider transformation continues.
The transition should be led by business outcomes, not by the retirement date of a legacy system. Moving to Offers and Orders creates the foundations for more relevant products, more consistent experiences across channels and simpler servicing. It also lets airlines use data more effectively and, increasingly, apply AI-enabled decisioning to shape the right offer in the moment and respond faster when a traveler's plans change. The technology matters, but the value comes from what the airline chooses to do with it.
As my colleague Meg O'Keefe, EVP Airlines Americas, Amadeus, puts it:
"The move to Offers and Orders isn't a switch you flip, it's a transformation you sequence. The airlines making real progress are the ones being honest about the dependencies underneath, modernizing the plumbing while keeping the business running. Get that foundation right and you unlock something genuinely new: the ability to commercialize any product, from any partner, at scale, all built around the traveler."
Interoperability is a shared responsibility
Interoperability must work in both directions. Airlines should ask every technology partner, including incumbent providers, to explain clearly how they will support coexistence, integration, data portability and an orderly transition. Suppliers, in turn, need to be open about their transition principles, technical commitments and the support they will provide when an airline introduces technology from another provider.
Airlines also need to play an active and informed leadership role in the transition. The strongest programs start internal discussions early and make clear decisions about the business changes they want the new capabilities to support. This is not simply an IT program. It affects commercial strategy, operations, finance, customer service and partnerships across the airline.
Transformation on each airline's terms
The journey to Offers and Orders is not about replacing one system with another. It is about building the foundations for a more agile airline business. Coexistence is a necessary phase, but to unlock the full benefits of simplification, retailing and operational efficiency, the industry must ultimately move beyond legacy processes and systems.
There is no single timeline or blueprint for doing that. Each airline will get there in its own way. What matters is having a practical plan, aligning partners across the ecosystem, and staying focused on the business outcomes the transformation is intended to deliver.
No airline can make this transition alone.
Download the guide, Moving to Offer, Order, and beyond: a practical guide for airlines, to help align your teams, suppliers and partners around a practical path forward.
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