Travelport on board with NDC after ‘fundamental shift’ by Iata

Travelport on board with NDC after ‘fundamental shift’ by Iata

Travelport has publicly offered its full backing to the Iata New Distribution Capability development after last week’s resolution agreement with Open Allies for Airfare Transparency.

Travelport has publicly offered its full backing to the Iata New Distribution Capability development after last week’s resolution agreement with Open Allies for Airfare Transparency.

Kurt Ekert, the technology and GDS provider’s chief operating officer, signalled deep concerns about the project had been put to one side.

Speaking in Monaco at this week’s Evolve Travelport conference, he told agency and supplier partners that he supports the basic aims of NDC.

“It started from the perspective of airlines trying to impose their will,” he said.

“After the announcement last week it seems it is really about a set of technology standards to help people grow their top line which is a great initiative and we are really supportive about that now.

“We are already doing a lot of what Iata is talking about achieving for their airline partners. We did not wait for Iata to set the standard.”

Ekert said Iata had “fundamentally changed their position”.

“We have always been in favour of standards, always been a believer in helping airlines grow.

“As long as they hold firm to what they put out last week we are big supporters of what they have espoused.

Open Allies agreed to withdraw its opposition to Resolution 787 subject to the implementation of certain conditions.

Specifically, the conditions clarify Iata’s commitment to the core principles of Resolution 787 regarding anonymous shopping, compatibility of existing data standards with the NDC standard and the voluntary nature of the standard.