With NDC, making milestones (and happy travelers) is our goal

Last month, The Beat published a research report detailing how corporate travel agencies view New Distribution Capability (NDC), IATA’s technology standard designed to modernize airline distribution in the agency channel. Of the TMCs surveyed, 80% said they view NDC positively and believe NDC is a favorable development in airline distribution.

NDC isn’t new – nor is it new to Amadeus. The infographic below chronicles our participation and industry partnership across key phases of standardization. During 2011-2013 we laid the groundwork. In 2014-2018 we tested and developed the protocol with v17.2 becoming the standard for industrialization. Currently in 2019-2023, we are actively building and deploying industrialized solutions. The goal is to achieve IATA’s NDC Leaderboard Initiative’s 2020 target: to achieve 20% of indirect business of 20+ airlines powered by an NDC API.

How Amadeus is driving adoption

Last year we launched our NDC-X program, bringing together the NDC activities across Amadeus both as an IT provider and aggregator. The program takes an agile approach and focuses on practical use cases of IATA’s NDC standards in a test-and-learn environment. From the start, our focus has been to ensure our solutions offer end-to-end capabilities; our mission remains to facilitate large-scale deployment and adoption worldwide.

Through a collaborative approach, we’ve built and tested NDC-enabled solutions with our travel seller partners, and have started piloting with live NDC bookings in production since last November with Travix. And we’re on track with our roadmap to roll out our NDC-enabled Amadeus Selling Platform Connect solution in the coming months.

We’re also working on integrating NDC in our flagship online booking tool, Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense, to ensure our corporate customers can access NDC content in their trusted booking environment.

What’s next?

NDC is a reality and we are well on our way! The solutions we have developed will bring all sources, including NDC content, together in one platform. With the Amadeus Travel Platform as the technology that powers our Live Travel Space vision – and in close collaboration with all travel players across the industry – we look forward to creating a better experience for travelers at every point of their trip.

As one TMC participant remarked in The Beat survey, “A healthy airline industry should be good for all of the players in the travel ecosystem. NDC is one of those initiatives that, once it is incorporated as a fit-for-purpose solution in a scalable, operationalized way, should provide many benefits across the marketplace.”

At Amadeus, we couldn’t agree more. In fact, we’re already looking toward the final phase, Optimization in 2024+, which features ongoing innovation, development and enhancement of NDC content and solutions. By working closely with the industry, we look forward to unlocking new value for travelers, and in so doing, generating more business for all.

To learn more, check out Amadeus’ 45-minute NDC webinar here and the latest NDC developments at www.amadeus.com/ndc.