IATA has come out in defence of its New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard in the wake of criticism from some sections of the travel trade (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 24, 2012).
In an email to TTG Asia e-Daily, Albert Tjoeng, assistant director, corporate communications, Asia-Pacific at IATA, stressed that the airline industry body had been actively engaging the travel trade throughout the development of the new standard.
“This engagement has been done directly with (travel consultants), as well as with (travel consultants) associations. The aim is to better understand travel (consultant) concerns, and to raise awareness of the NDC initiative,” he explained.
Tjoeng detailed a series of workshops, presentations and meetings over the last four months during which various trade bodies such as the American Society of Travel Agents, European Travel Agents’ & Tour Operators’ Association (ECTAA), Guild of European Business Travel Agents, Agency Solutions Technical Working Group, World Travel Agents Associations Alliance and United Federation of Travel Agents’ Associations had played a part.
He added: “The development of the NDC standard involves participation of the travel (consultants) directly instead of through their associations. The expertise needed for the standard development is often found with the travel (consultant) and not the associations.”
“In fact, ECTAA proposed that two of their member (agencies) attend the next NDC workshop in Montreal in November. IATA accepted and invited them. These two (agencies) are now actively participating in the (NDC) Working Group.”
In a separate email, Travelport waded into the debate: “At this time, much of the IATA NDC statement appears only conceptual in nature, based on high-level principles that do not necessarily incorporate the input of all the critical components of the travel value chain from supplier to travel (consultant) to consumer.”
“For these standards to be effective, more work needs to be done and open dialogue will be paramount to its success. We call on IATA to address the concerns raised by trade bodies and demonstrate a real collaboration across the value chain, including GDSs and the travel agency community.”
