Amadeus initiative to ‘drive industrialisation’ of Iata’s NDC

Amadeus initiative to ‘drive industrialisation’ of Iata’s NDC

NDC-X will bring together experts from across the business Continue reading

A dedicated scheme to drive the industrialisation of Iata’s New Distribution Capability is being introduced by Amadeus.

The NDC-X initiative will bring together experts from across Amadeus’ business.

It will focus on practical use cases of the standard, adopting a test and learn approach to deliver improved capabilities for the industry.

The move comes a day after rival Travelport outlined plans to extend its content offering using NDC.

The NDC-X programme is a continuation of Amadeus’ previous work towards the digitalisation of the industry and the creation of commercial possibilities to build on NDC.

Gianni Pisanello, who has held a variety of leadership roles within Amadeus’ airlines business, both on the IT and the distribution side, will lead the new NDC-X program.

The Iata NDC is an XML-based data transmission standard that holds huge promise for the travel industry, and will enable travel companies – from airlines to travel agencies – to evolve travel distribution and merchandising.

Pisanello said: “We are at a critical moment in terms of the development of the standard, and the readiness of the industry.

“For NDC to truly take off, we need to create a real standard not only for the protocol itself, but also for how it’s implemented.

“We also need to ensure that it responds to travel seller requirements, and that it has the right economics to drive investment.

“We recognise that we have a responsibility to make NDC work for all travel players, and that’s what we will be doing through our NDC-X programme.”

Amadeus travel channels senior vice president Decius Valmorbida added: “The NDC-X programme is a strategic priority for Amadeus. Our aim is to create better journeys for travellers through the best use of technology, and this transversal programme will work with our travel seller and airline customers to deliver just that.

“We are dedicating the right resources and have appointed a strong leader with a proven track-record in the industry to drive its success.”

Amadeus airlines senior vice president Julia Sattel said: “NDC holds great potential for the travel industry, and is part of a bigger picture of digitalisation as airlines and travel sellers are testing new ways to adapt their businesses and improve services provided to the traveller.

“We are working hard to solve our airline customers’ technology challenges in areas such as merchandising, dynamic pricing and cloud servicing, which we see as the heavy machinery in the background which will make NDC and improved retailing a reality.”