FCM Travel Solutions has announced several developments in its strategy to book and service NDC content from airlines for customers in the EMEA region following testing of solutions with Amadeus and other technology providers.
As a partner of the Amadeus NDC-X programme, FCM and its parent company Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) have successfully booked NDC airline content within the new NDC-enabled version of Amadeus’s desktop solution Selling Platform Connect. The TMC said the milestone followed collaboration and testing over several months with the new user interface on the platform for both leisure and business travel environments.
In the UK, FCM will be able to book and service British Airways’ NDC content via new technology capabilities from the end of October. This means its clients will have access to the airline’s short-haul and long-haul NDC fares and ancillary bookings.
In Germany, FCM has been able to book and service Lufthansa NDC content, including the carrier’s Business Light fares, since earlier this year via its preferred aggregator in the market.
FCM said the next stage in its NDC roadmap is to ensure online booking tools improve its ability to integrate and display NDC content.
Nicola Ping, manager of air content and distribution for EMEA at Flight Centre/FCM, commented: “The sole purpose of our approach to integrating NDC has been to ensure that the needs of our customers come first and that we provide clients with relevant NDC content via a scalable, workable long-term solution. Our aim is to balance booking NDC content with a fit-for-purpose solution, ensuring everything enhances and personalises our customers’ experience.
“Our strategy has been to take a longer-term view and ensure we maximise the benefits NDC brings to the travellers, not only for search and book, but most importantly around service capabilities. We have spent considerable time piloting and testing how to deliver this content via a multi-level approach so that our customers benefit positively from NDC. This will ensure that all of the support and functionality that our customers need can be delivered.
“These pilots have continued to uncover several improvement areas and limitations, which we are sharing with both customers, airlines and aggregators in tri-party meetings and via IATA NDC industry sessions chaired by myself and Marcus Eklund, FCM’s global managing director, so that we can collaborate towards a better solution not just for ourselves, but on behalf of the customer and TMC community.”
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