Software:IATA New Distribution Capability
NDC (New Distribution Capability) is an XML-based data transmission standard promoted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that enhances the capability of communications between airlines and travel agents.[1] IATA NDC was approved in October 2012 by IATA followed by the US DOT approval in August 2014 and with IATA delivering the first set of official standards on 1 September 2015.[2][3][4]
The NDC Standard enables the travel industry to transform the way air products are retailed to corporations, leisure and business travelers, by addressing the industry’s current distribution limitations.
History
The 79,000 Travel Agents across the world account for about 60% of the value of all travel sold.[5] The information passed to the travel agents are restricted to price and schedule. Since travel agents use systems with pre-internet messaging standards they do not have access to the same information and services that are being offered by the airlines through their website.[6]
IATA Resolution 787 clearly defines the scope of New Distribution Capability. NDC enable airlines to respond directly to shopping requests from travel agents, manage order processing and enables true comparison shopping. NDC is not a system or a software or a database but it's only a standard to exchange information between airlines and travel agents. It's the various IT Providers who make it into systems and software.
Certification Process
The NDC Certification Program managed by IATA confirms the scope and level of a particular organization's capability to provide NDC applications, receive and send NDC messages.[7] The Certification Program validates that the NDC messages and application accurately follows the relevant version of the applicable NDC schemas and confirm the certification level. IATA is the only industry body that manages the NDC message validation and certification process.
Following are named some airlines who has already deployed an NDC based solution or working on launching a solution to address the same.
United Airlines[8] S7 Airlines[9] flydubai[10] British Airways[11] Iberia[12] Emirates Airlines[13] Saudi Arabian Airlines[14] among others [15]
Critique
According to independent reviews NDC was designed to give airlines inventory data control while the true limitations are rooted in the fact that buyers do not control client and traveler data. With a few exceptions, travel agencies do not control their own client data today, as it is stored within the global distribution systems in a proprietary and mostly unstructured format.[16] Any "new distribution capability" must first solve the problem of unstructured traveler data. This is not addressed by NDC. A standard in travel that has already been widely adapted are the OpenTravel XML formats which also address airline ticket distribution.[17]
References
- ↑ "The NDC program". www.iata.org. http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/airline-distribution/ndc/Pages/default.aspx.
- ↑ "New Distribution Capability Strategy Paper Version 1.2". IATA.ORG. https://www.iata.org/whatwedo/airline-distribution/ndc/Documents/ndc-strategy-paper.pdf. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
- ↑ "IATA Resolution 787 Enhanced Airline Distribution". IATA.ORG. https://www.iata.org/whatwedo/airline-distribution/ndc/Documents/ndc-resolution-787.pdf. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
- ↑ "IATA Welcomes US Dept. of Transportation Final Approval of Resolution 787". IATA.ORG. http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2014-08-07-01.aspx. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
- ↑ "Remarks of Tony Tyler at the TAAI-TAFI Symposium on Future Aviation Trends, Mumbai". IATA.ORG. http://www.iata.org/pressroom/speeches/Pages/2015-07-15-01.aspx. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
- ↑ "Ai Editorial: How IATA's NDC is starting to shape up". IATA.ORG=airlineinformation.org. http://www.airlineinformation.org/opinion/ancillary-merchandising/855-how-iata-s-ndc-is-starting-to-shape-up.html. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
- ↑ "NDC Certification". IATA.ORG. http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/airline-distribution/ndc/Pages/registry.aspx. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
- ↑ "NDC hits US at last". tnooz.com. https://www.tnooz.com/article/ndc-hits-us-united-first-airline-roll-amadeuss-ancillary-sales-tool-xml-era. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
- ↑ "S7 Airlines is the first Russian company to implement NDC". ruaviation.com. http://www.ruaviation.com/news/2016/7/7/6080/?h. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
- ↑ "flydubai achieves IATA NDC Level 3 certification". news.flydubai.com. https://news.flydubai.com/flydubai-achieves-iata-ndc-level-3-certification-80504. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
- ↑ "BA Champions NDC for Corporate Travel". thecompanydime.com. http://www.thecompanydime.com/british-airways/. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
- ↑ "Iberia actively participating in NDC definition and implementation, reaching a Level 3 NDC-Certification in 2016.". developer.iairgroup.com. https://developer.iairgroup.com/iberia.
- ↑ "Emirates enhances connectivity for travel agents with NDC compliant online B2B API". emirates.com. http://www.emirates.com/media-centre/emirates-enhances-connectivity-for-travel-agents-with-ndc-compliant-online-b2b-api. Retrieved 2016-04-26.
- ↑ "Saudia takes modular approach to IATA’s New Distribution Capability". svworld.net. https://svworld.net/en/2016/11/saudia-takes-modular-approach-to-iatas-new-distribution-capability/. Retrieved 2016-12-21.
- ↑ "NDC Airlines". www.iata.org. http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/airline-distribution/ndc/Pages/ndc-airlines.aspx.
- ↑ "New Distribution Capability: Friend or foe?". buyingbusinesstravel.com. https://buyingbusinesstravel.com/feature/0220410-new-distribution-capability-friend-or-foe. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
- ↑ "NDC Provides 'No Discernible Contributions' For Travel Sellers". TheBeat.Travel. http://www.thebeat.travel/post/2016/09/28/GUEST-NDC-Provides-No-Discernible-Contributions-For-Travel-Sellers.aspx. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
External links
 |
