The age of NDC at scale has arrived

Despite the pandemic's impact on travel in the past year, the industry's focus on NDC has not stalled. In fact, far from it. 2021 will be the year of broad deployment of NDC-enabled airline content around the world. Today, over 1,500 travel sellers in more than 40 markets around the world can already book airline content via NDC through the Amadeus Travel Platform. And our goal is to make NDC-sourced content available to all Amadeus travel sellers around the world in the course of this year.

Amadeus is committed to the global industrialization of NDC because we know that the travel industry will need NDC to keep up with the demand of the modern digital consumer. Now that the foundations of NDC have been laid, a whole new world of modern online retailing in the travel sector is opening up before us.

So how will NDC enhance retailing, and how will it benefit airlines and travel sellers alike? It all comes down to tailoring, servicing, and innovation.

The new world of personalization with NDC

Influenced by Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify, travelers want tailormade offers through any channel so they can compare and shop for whatever strikes their fancy.

NDC-powered distribution will give airlines specific information at shopping time-like the traveler's destination, the length of their trip, and whether they are traveling alone or not. This means they can create and distribute dynamic, tailored offers through travel agents and corporate booking tools in real-time. Agents and travel managers, in turn, can build an attractive offer for their travelers more efficiently. NDC also unlocks possibilities to use richer content-like pictures of the airline cabin or special vegetarian meals-to give travelers a more detailed understanding of what they can expect. This will not only differentiate airlines and travel sellers' offering but make their brand stand out too.

There is no one size fits all. NDC gives each airline the ability to experiment and create unique digital retailing strategies and respond more quickly to changing market demands.

So, for example, the offer management system of an NDC-enabled airline could deduce that a person traveling alone between London and New York for two nights in the middle of the week is likely a business traveler. It could respond with a special corporate bundle to offer perks such as complimentary access to preferred seats and priority boarding. The travel seller could even show the traveler a video or picture of the exact seat they are booking to help them compare offerings and value between different airlines.

NDC is elevating customer service to new heights

With all of this new tailoring and richer content at their fingertips, travel sellers can also break away from the crowd with even better customer service thanks to NDC.

With an increasing array of options, it can be challenging for travelers to compare apples to apples when shopping for travel on their own. Travel sellers connected to the Amadeus Travel Platform have the whole picture-including offers from both NDC and EDIFACT - on one merged display. This means travelers will get a full picture of all their options to make an informed choice and get the best value offer quickly and simply.

This new level of personalization and customer service doesn't need to come at the expense of speed and efficiency. On the contrary, NDC bookings can be made quickly and will display all the relevant fare information with one click .

Of course, we live in a world where plans can change from one moment to another. Thanks to the Amadeus Travel Platform, travel sellers get advanced servicing capabilities with full end-to-end integration for NDC-sourced content, so they can change, modify or cancel a booking quickly with just a few clicks.

Meanwhile, NDC-enabled airlines can also improve customer service during disruptions by making the rebooking process much simpler and quicker. Thanks to instant and dynamic communications through the NDC protocol, both travelers and travel sellers can stay informed no matter what happens. This removes some of the complexity that currently clouds the whole rebooking process. For example, if a flight is canceled or delayed, the travel seller could either rebook, refund the flight (based on offer conditions), or offer a voucher to passengers instantly, based on their preference. All of this can help avoid long lines at the airport customer service desk and prevent traveler stress and frustration.

The key take-away

NDC was born out of the need for travel industry players to become better digital retailers. Travelers don't care what technology is used behind the scenes; they just want the process of searching and booking travel to be as easy as buying anything else. And they expect the same level of customer service.

Thanks to years of collaboration between IATA, airlines, travel sellers, and other industry partners around the world, NDC is now well on its way to being available everywhere. At Amadeus, we're well on the path of implementing NDC-enabled solutions and making content via NDC available worldwide so all travel sellers can access this new, richer airline content. By the end of the year, we expect to be processing bookings made via NDC worldwide. This truly is NDC at scale.

Equally, we do understand each travel company will have its own pace to adopt NDC - meaning it will co-exist with other technologies for some time. We have this covered with our Travel Platform, which spans all kinds of travel content to ensure airlines and travel sellers can cross the NDC bridge when the time is right for them.

Ultimately though, the mass deployment of NDC will bring more personalization, retailing capabilities, and innovation to the travel industry, to the benefit of travelers, travel sellers, and airlines around the world. After years of talking about NDC in the future tense, we can and should talk about it in the present. NDC is here, and it's shaping the way we travel. We're excited about the possibilities we will continue exploring along the way!

Source: Amadeus Blog

Author: Ludo Verheggen; Director Air Content Acceleration, Amadeus