British Airways has announced that it will introduce new short-haul price points in the first half of 2018, which will only be accessible through New Distribution Capability (NDC).
The airline has been making a move toward NDC this year, implementing an £8 per leg surcharge to bookings made through the GDSs and negotiating with more than 50 TMCs to develop NDC connections.
Adam Daniels, chief commercial officer at BA, said: “We’ve successfully changed our approach to distribution and the transition has gone incredibly well.
“We know this is a significant change for agents and we understand that implementation of NDC requires some planning, so we are delighted that so many of our partners are now working on it with us.
“We’ve been speaking directly to agents about distribution and those two-way conversations mean that we’re able to build new products based on their requirements. The introduction to ancillaries has lead the field and in the first half of 2018 we will be introducing significantly more short-haul price points. The change will enable us to compete more efficiently with other short-haul carriers and offer a wide spread of fares, which will benefit the trade and customers alike.
“The new short-haul price products will be available to both the direct and indirect channels. We know that NDC will support these new products, so we are confident that these new products can be made available to trade partners who have such a connection in place. We are in discussion with third party technology providers including GDSs about provision of these products, as we want these products to be available widely so that we compete more effectively.”
BA says the new short-haul fares is the first of a range of products it expects to release via NDC and is working with technology providers such as Travelfusion and Hitchhiker to give agents access to NDC content.
The airline also comments that agents who adopt an NDC connection will have access to its full inventory, including discounted corporate fares.
britishairways.com