NDC Future-proof distribution
I
ata’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) can no longer be described as new. However, its wide adoption in the next year or two will mark a new departure. Gianni Pisanello, vice-president of Amadeus’ NDC-X programme, says: “Amadeus took a decision on the best basis to adopt NDC after lots of analysis with airlines and agents and decided to go to full Level 3 certification.” Both airlines and agents “were keen on
a future-proof solution and preferred to sacrifice speed to market”, he says. “NDC Level 3 is great in terms of
future-proofing, but one of the drawbacks is the speed at which it will be adopted – so there is a trade-off.” Adoption will be slower because it involves “a big change to systems for agents”, he believes. “But the first element we needed was the Iata standard to be mature enough. “NDC Version 17.2, made available at the end of last year [it means simply 2017 version 2], was a leap forward compared with previous versions, for two reasons. It had been re-engineered to be used at high volume and, from a performance perspective, it is more appropriate for an aggregator like us because it could cope with the processing required when shooting millions of instructions at it.” Pisanello describes this as the ‘spelling’ of
Widescale adoption of Iata’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard will transform airline distribution. Gianni Pisanello, vice-president of Amadeus’ NDC-X programme, explains
the standard, saying: “Then we have to go to the ‘grammar’ – the flow of messaging.” This can vary significantly from one airline to another. For example, he says: “One airline might approach selling a seat and ancillaries as you buy a seat and pay, then are offered a seat selection. Another might say ‘select everything first’. The end is the same, but the flow is completely different and that creates problems for agencies.” An airline might approach the issue as a
matter of ‘innovation’. But Pisanello argues: “Innovation comes out of standardisation. It is through standardisation that you enable creativity. “Typically, some airlines say
‘standardisation stifles innovation’. But when they go through the technology they realise you need the highway in place before you can innovate on your Ferrari – and you don’t need 10 motorways to reach your destination.”
He adds: “What airlines know is their
own website and, in that environment, transactions are quite simple. The travel agent environment is more complex. “You could simply search a flight and book on NDC, but airlines are [increasingly] understanding how the indirect world works. Full-service carriers and business travellers require a lot of attention. Corporate travellers make a lot of changes – you need to be able
FIGURE 18: % ACCESS INTERNET DAILY: 2017 All devices
+1 % 100
20 40 60 80
0 All adults Aged 16-29 Source: Eurostat 72% 79% 70% 85% 68% 92% 91% 94% 87% 94% 98% 88% EU
Germany France UK Italy
Highest: Norway
20 40 60 80
0 All adults Source: Eurostat 73% 63% 64% 31% +1 0 -3 +2 0 0 -1 -3 -2 0 -2 Change YoY % 100 79% 84% EU
Germany France UK Italy
Highest:
Netherlands, Sweden
FIGURE 19: ONLINE ACCESS VIA SMARTPHONE: 2017
+7 +9 +10 +2 +2 +8 Change YoY
Travel Weekly Europe Report 2018 | 17
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