Tag Archives: NDC

“Travel agents require new skills to adapt to new technologies” – Alan Satguru

At a recent exclusive interview with TravelTV Middle East, Alan William Chief Strategy Officer Satguru Travel shared that upskilling the staff is important with new technologies such as AI and NDC. He reiterated, “Travel is a very personal business irrespective of what AI pops out today if you do a ChatGPT and what it pops out today, do you really believe it? I think there is a lot more for AI to go and if you read all the management books they always say to take AI with a pinch of salt and that’s what we are also doing. We are very much aware that technology will be there but when packages are formed they still need human intervention. I come from a generation when computers were introduced they didn’t kill jobs but the skills of the people need to change to adapt to the new requirements it’s a service industry people are needed but it’s a different breed of people that are needed. Upskilling is very important take for example a travel consultant five years ago his job was to issue a ticket and ensure those tickets were issued but today with NDC coming in and the amount of ancillaries the staff has to know.”

Read More »

Travelport delivers NDC content and servicing for Qatar Airways on Travelport+

Travelport and Qatar Airways  announced that Qatar’s NDC content and enhanced servicing capabilities are now available in the Travelport+ platform. Travelport customers can easily search and compare NDC offers from Qatar Airways, as well as service NDC bookings, which includes modifications and cancellations. Travelport+ enables agency customers to access a wide range of rich content, fares, and unique offerings from Qatar Airways all in one place, enhanced by the Content Curation Layer (CCL). This Travelport+ feature minimizes manual tasks using powerful artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) capabilities to provide agents and travelers a more modern retailing experience with faster search response times, highly relevant results, and greater accuracy. “Our NDC collaboration with Travelport ensures that travel agents around the globe can effortlessly shop and book our growing repertoire of NDC offers and provide exceptional service to our customers, including post-ticketing,” said Matt Raos, Senior Vice President, Global Sales at Qatar Airways. “Qatar Airways has long been committed to bringing our agency partners along on the NDC journey, so we’re pleased to extend our NDC offers to Travelport subscribers.” “Now that Qatar’s NDC content is available on Travelport+, our agency customers will have the ability to view and compare more dynamic offers and ancillaries from Qatar Airways so they can create a more streamlined, personalized experience for travelers,” said Jason Clarke, Chief Commercial Officer, Travel Partners at Travelport. “We’ve built our NDC solution to empower travel agents to operate as modern retailers and provide the level of service that travelers need beyond the point of booking, so that our partners benefit from more upsells and greater loyalty from their customers.” Travelport’s NDC content and servicing solution for Qatar Airways has …

Read More »

Travelport becomes One Global Travel’s preferred GDS partner to support community of Travel Management Companies

Travelport announced that it is One Global Travel’s preferred Global Distribution System (GDS) partner. As the only GDS provider to One Global, the international community of leading independent travel management companies (TMCs) formed by World Travel Inc. and Clarity Business Travel Management, Travelport will provide access to retail ready content and superior search, shop and servicing capabilities delivered through the Travelport+ platform. One Global TMCs will also benefit from Travelport’s complete New Distribution Capability (NDC) solution, which empowers agents and travel managers to easily compare offers side-by-side and seamlessly service NDC bookings for their travelers. “At One Global we are 100% committed to building trusted and transparent relationships with our suppliers that bring true value to our international community of TMC partners,” said Polly Smoothy, Global Supplier Partnership Manager at One Global Travel. “Travelport is our preferred GDS partner of choice to deliver a broad range of travel content and technology tools.” “Business travel expectations are changing drastically, and employees want the ability to book and manage their work trips quickly, easily and with more control. That is why we designed Travelport+ to help TMCs operate as modern retailers and give travelers more self-service options,” said Paul Broughton, Director of Business Development, EMEA and APAC at Travelport. “Our partnership with One Global will drive modern retailing forward in the corporate travel sector, providing TMCs, their clients and business travelers with greater personalization, more convenience and truly modern experiences.”  

Read More »

Virgin Atlantic signs renewed distribution agreement with Travelport, Including NDC content and servicing

Virgin Atlantic and Travelport announced a renewed agreement. The deal includes distribution of all Virgin Atlantic content, including, subject to implementation, future distribution of NDC through the Travelport+ platform. This renewed agreement strengthens the ongoing travel retailing relationship between Travelport and Virgin Atlantic, ensuring that Travelport-connected agencies have continued access to Virgin’s most robust, enriched content in the Travelport+ platform. Additionally, Virgin Atlantic is using Travelport’s complete branding solution to enhance the way products and ancillaries are displayed on agents’ screens with rich graphics and detailed descriptions, so that agents can seamlessly shop, compare and personalize options for travelers. “Our renewed agreement with Travelport, along with Virgin Atlantic’s future delivery of NDC content, illustrates our commitment to drive value and deliver modern retailing experiences for the agency community and our travelers,” said Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic. “Travelport+ offers retailing and merchandizing capabilities that ensures travel retailers can provide our customers with more choices and the best options from Virgin Atlantic.” “With this new deal, we will support Virgin’s modern retailing strategy with NDC collaboration and Travelport+ capabilities that make it easy for agents to search, sell and service the best offers,” said Jason Clarke, Chief Commercial Officer, Travel Partners at Travelport. “Our long-standing partnership with Virgin Atlantic will bring more value to the industry as we focus on delivering the seamless experiences agents need to provide travelers with personalized offers and the superior service that they expect.”

Read More »

Travelport investors commit $570 million in new equity financing to bolster capital structure and accelerate long-term growth and innovation

Travelport Worldwide Limited announced that a group of its existing equity holders and lenders have agreed to invest $570 million of new equity financing into the Company. The new financing will give Travelport a robust capital structure, enable further investment into Travelport’s technology platforms and pave the way for other innovations to deliver new and exceptional ways for the travel industry to serve customers. The new investment in Travelport is being made pursuant to an agreement that will significantly deleverage and strengthen the Company’s balance sheet (the “Transaction”). Following completion of the Transaction, Travelport will have a new ownership structure composed of Travelport’s existing equity and credit investors, including Elliott Investment Management, Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Canyon Partners, Siris Capital and other leading institutional investors. These investors will remain well positioned to provide strategic counsel and support to the Company’s management. “This investment demonstrates our investors’ support for Travelport and will advance our mission to reinvent a better future for the travel industry,” said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer of Travelport. “With this new investment, Travelport will have a strong balance sheet with the least amount of debt amongst its peers, which we believe will put the Company in an even better position for long-term, profitable growth. Most importantly, this Transaction will further strengthen our operating business and accelerate our investments in Travelport+ and other initiatives that make us the most innovative and agile partner to all our customers. We thank our investors for their significant vote of confidence in Travelport.” In the last year, Travelport has undertaken several successful strategic investments and initiatives to enhance the technology, products and services it provides to customers. These include the acquisition of …

Read More »

Travelport delivers British Airways’ NDC content on Travelport+, providing faster and easier access for agents

Travelport announced that New Distribution Capability (NDC) content from British Airways is now live on the Travelport+ platform. With Travelport, British Airways is delivering simplified access to NDC content to agents, so that travel retailers can easily book and service NDC offers for their customers. The content is available as of today in the UK and Ireland and will be followed by a global rollout for Travelport+ users around the world. “We’re delighted that, together with Travelport, we’re now providing agents with a view of all our products and dynamic fares. With everything all in one place, we are empowering agents to take control of a wide range of content available to them for a more efficient and seamless booking experience,” said Ian Romanis, British Airways’ Director of Retail and Customer Relationship Management. The Content Curation Layer (CCL) within Travelport+ is driven by powerful artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning capabilities in order to provide more accurate, relevant results for a faster, more streamlined booking experience for travel retailers. Agents using Travelport+ will be able to easily search, compare, book and service British Airways’ content all in one place, with access to a wide range of rich content, fares, and unique offerings with just a few simple keystrokes. “Now that we have more content from different sources live in Travelport+, like British Airways NDC, agents can easily manage all aspects of their clients’ travel within a single view of product features, dynamic offers and ancillaries,” said Jason Clarke, Chief Commercial Officer, Travel Partners at Travelport.  “Travelport+ was designed to revolutionize the way airlines distribute their products by connecting suppliers directly with travel agents around the world through one unified platform. Following …

Read More »

Travelport renews multi-year agreement with United Airlines as United’s NDC content becomes available to Travelport customers

Travelport announced that it has renewed its multi-year agreement with United Airlines. As part of the agreement, Travelport will continue to provide travel agencies around the world real-time access to United’s wide selection of travel content, products, and services. Travelport will also continue to collaborate closely with the carrier to support United’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiatives and deliver a world-class, modern travel retail experience. Simplified access to United’s NDC content and servicing capabilities launched several months ago with a successful early adopter program and is anticipated to be available to all of Travelport’s agency customers in August. With this extended rollout, Travelport-connected agencies will be able to easily search, compare and book United’s NDC offers, as well as service NDC bookings, including modifications and cancellations. While all Travelport customers will have access to United’s NDC content, agents using Travelport+ will be able to access a wide range of United’s rich content, fares, and unique offerings all in one place, enhanced by the Content Curation Layer (CCL). This Travelport+ feature minimizes manual tasks using powerful artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) capabilities to provide agents and travelers a more modern retailing experience with faster search responses, more relevant results, and greater accuracy. “We’re laser-focused on modern retailing and making new content sources, like NDC, easier for travel agents. Our partnership with United Airlines provides a streamlined booking experience with simplified access to United’s dynamic offers and ancillaries to our agency network anytime, anywhere,” said Jason Clarke, Chief Commercial Officer, Travel Partners at Travelport. “Our NDC solution is designed to support travel retailers with complete end-to-end servicing that goes beyond the booking process, allowing agents to easily manage trip changes on …

Read More »

Traxo launches comprehensive NDC airline rollout resource for corporate travel managers

Traxo, Inc., announced the launch of NDCtracker.com. This site provides a centralized source for news, deadlines and information intended to aid corporate travel managers and their partners in adapting to the imminent NDC-related changes in airline retailing. The complimentary Traxo NDCtracker.com offers an updated catalog of airline NDC status, progress, and dates. Traxo, whose patented ‘Filter’ technology automatically captures out-of-channel booking data and provides corporations with full travel visibility, has proactively curated NDC-related details and news from various public sources including ARC Direct Connect, IATA Airline Retailing Maturity (ARM), BTN, The Company Dime, PhocusWire, Duffel, Accelya, and more presenting them on the NDC dashboard for each global airline. Visitors concerned about how NDC will affect their own travel programs should sign up for periodic email updates from Traxo. These updates will contain new information about NDC rollouts as they are announced, important changes as part of airline rollouts (e.g., fare availability, new EDIFACT fees), as well as notable news on migrations and seller relationships. Andres Fabris, CEO and Founder of Traxo, remarked, “We’ve established this site to serve the entire industry, offering an efficient, up-to-date resource to assist travel managers. Traxo is dedicated to helping TMCs and corporate travel organizations avoid the detrimental effects of leaked bookings, including supplier-direct NDC bookings, by capturing and consolidating complete, real-time travel booking data from all sources. We support all travel program strategies whether it’s a managed program requiring information on leakage or an open booking program intent on capturing all bookings regardless of source.” Suzanne Boyan, Global Meetings and Travel Manager at ZS Associates, commented, “We are so impressed with Traxo for creating this valuable resource. While the industry’s NDC discourse has largely …

Read More »

Sabre and American Airlines set to go live with NDC content

Sabre Corporation and American Airlines announced the availability of American’s NDC offers through Sabre’s global distribution system (GDS). Starting on April 3, Sabre-connected travel buyers, agencies and developer partners will be able to shop, book, and service American’s NDC content, including paid seats, through Sabre’s Offer and Order APIs, the agency point-of-sale tool, Sabre Red 360, and the online booking tool, GetThere. “We are committed to providing our customers with a modern, seamless retailing experience across all channels,” said Thomas Rajan, vice president, global sales at American Airlines. “Through Sabre’s network of travel retailers, we’ll be able to provide our enhanced, rich NDC content to travelers worldwide. This will open new business opportunities to American as well as our travel retail partners, and deliver a better, more tailored experience to the customers we all serve.” Travel buyers connected to the Sabre GDS will be able to choose enhanced offers from American such as the Main Select and Flagship Business Plus fares, ancillary products and the lowest fares available in these channels. They will also have access to more descriptive information on American’s flight offers as well as seat selection enabled in the booking path. “We are excited to reach this milestone with American Airlines and look forward to our ongoing collaboration to provide travel buyers with the offers and services their travelers want,” said Kathy Morgan, Vice President, NDC and Airline Supply, Sabre Travel Solutions. “While it is still early days for NDC bookings, making this rich NDC content from the world’s largest airline available in Sabre channels is an important step towards the maturing and scaling of NDC distribution.”

Read More »

Safe Travel & Services joins with Amadeus to elevate its customer service offering with latest travel solutions

Amadeus signed technology partnership agreement with Safe Travel & Services, one of leading travel agencies in UAE. The travel company provides comprehensive range of services for individual travelers, corporate clients, and groups from and to the UAE, including customized packages and visa services. Under the agreement, Safe Travel & Services and its customers will benefit from various Amadeus products and solutions. These include Amadeus Online Suite, an omni -channel e-commerce solution to expand online presence and deliver a wealth of quality tailored content; Business Management Platform, incorporating various solutions such as robotic ticketing tools and sales data management systems to support pricing, analysis, and ticketing automation through a single platform. Also included in portfolio is Amadeus All Fares Plus, which helps agents find best air deals by comparing multiple content sources, including NDC-enabled content, and Amadeus B2B Wallet to offer payment options. Ernesto Sanchez Beaumont, Managing Director, Amadeus Gulf, said: “With travel gaining momentum as more countries open their doors to travelers, we are committed to supporting Safe Travel & Services in rapidly finding the best air deals for its customers and providing a seamless end-to-end travel payments solution offering greater choice, reach, and orchestration.” Raed Baidas, General Manager of Safe Travel & Services, said: “To address challenges of the modern tourism industry, we know that planning, developing, and adapting to evolving needs of the market is key to our success. Adopting Amadeus’ latest technology solutions will help us realise our ambitions and position us strategically as we strengthen our customer relationships and take our value-offering to the next level.” As the travel ecosystem evolves, the industry is ready to upgrade and enhance systems and processes and have in place …

Read More »