Travel commerce platform Travelport has completed the onboarding of the first group of agencies to receive access to New Distribution Capability (NDC) content.
The news comes just three months after Meon Valley completed the first live booking using NDC content through Travelport’s Smartpoint platform.
The first full group of NDC customers to implement Travelport’s NDC booking solution includes American Express Global Business Travel, DNATA, Gray Dawes Group, Global Travel Management, Meon Valley Travel, Premier Holidays, TAG, Travel Counsellors and Travel & Transport Statesman.
Travelport says it will continue to refine its NDC booking solutions and will follow up with further Smartpoint enhancements, along with an NDC connection channel through its Trip Service API.
Nick Dagg, SVP of global agency sales at Travelport, commented: “We work at the heart of the travel industry and our agency customers rely on us to provide them with choice through access to the broadest range of travel content. NDC is no exception and we’ve taken great care in managing the roll-out of our NDC booking capability through Smartpoint to our agency customers. This has allowed us to learn as we go, listen to the important feedback from our customers as they operate in this new distribution era and refine our NDC solution to ensure it provides seamless, integrated travel choice. I’d like to thank all our customers for collaborating with us as we deliver an NDC solution which works for everyone.”
John Bukowski, director of content and distribution at American Express Global Business Travel, said: “We are working with key parties to ensure we continue to deliver access to all content, with a focus on improving traveller experience, controlling cost, maintaining full end-to-end servicing, as well as transparent fares, pricing and comparison shopping. NDC is an important step in advancing airline offers and fare options, which we believe should remain focused on delivering value to corporate clients and not as a means to limit access to content, add cost, or force new and costly airline connectivity. We look forward to continuing to engage with Travelport, airline partners and others to continue to progress NDC capabilities while maintaining a focus on delivering a scalable, cost-effective way to access content for our clients.”
David Bishop, commercial director at Gray Dawes added: “NDC is a major shift in air content distribution so it’s been great to be part of the initial group of agencies with access to NDC content through Travelport Smartpoint. We’ve provided feedback to Travelport as we work together to refine the NDC work-flow so it best serves the agents who will use it day-to-day and have appreciated Travelport’s collaborative approach.”
Mervyn Williamson, MD of Travel and Transport Statesman, said: “If you’re involved in travel, you’ve probably had a conversation in the last few months on NDC. It’s having a major impact on all of us as we work through the best way to be ready for the new era of content distribution, maintaining at the same time optimum fulfilment service for our clients. Having access to NDC content as soon as possible was of vital importance to us and our travellers, so we were pleased to have been part of the initial group of NDC-connected agencies through Travelport Smartpoint.”
travelport.com