Travelport says it is the first GDS operator to manage the live booking of flights using IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) technical standard.
The first transaction was made by a British agency, Meon Valley Travel, on October 19 for a short-haul low-cost flight from London to Milan issued by a major European carrier, which was not named.
According to the travel commerce company, the booking was managed on the latest Travelport Smartpoint agency point of sale. The new capability allows bookings to be made for any services on the airline without incurring a surcharge, and marks the first of a series of products that the company is developing to accommodate changing airline distribution methods.
Gordon Wilson, Travelport’s president and CEO, said: “This is a landmark moment for airline distribution. We are delighted to have taken a lead in bringing the NDC era to life…. We are still at the very earliest stages of NDC deployment. Its evolution will continue to take time as we learn from the practical experience of its first use.”
Travelport’s NDC-enabled booking has also been hailed “a significant step toward a new era of airline retailing” by IATA’s senior vice president, financial and distribution services Aleks Popovich.
Travelport was the first GDS operator in December 2017 to acquire Level 3 certification from IATA as an aggregator.
