Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) has secured a 22.47 per
cent stake in TPConnects Technologies, a Dubai-based company providing
solutions for NDC and One Order.
According to FCTG, the investment supports its technology
roadmap and air content offering and will enable it to provide a wider range of
travel content globally, particularly for its corporate clients managed by its
specialist divisions FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller.
The group has worked with TPConnects since last year to
deliver specific airline NDC content to corporate customers in Europe. The technology
company also designed solutions for FCTG to allow FCM and Corporate Traveller
consultants to offer such content without interruptions to duty of care,
reporting, or servicing. The collaboration helped the group attain IATA Level 4
NDC certification in December 2019.
Steve Norris, MD EMEA at FCTG, said: “Sourcing and
distributing the world’s broadest range of airline content has always been the
backbone of the FCTG business. As airlines continue to disrupt the way in which
they distribute their content, it’s essential for FCTG to be able to offer all
relevant air fares to customers, in particular our corporate clients.
“We are excited to have made this strategic investment, which
provides tremendous opportunity for our company and our customers, and ensures
we are at the forefront of developments that are taking place now. We’ve been
working closely with TPConnects and have been impressed by the capability and
flexibility of its NDC-enabled retailing and distribution technology.
“FCTG was a launch partner with both Amadeus’ NDC-X and
Sabre’s Beyond NDC programmes and we will continue to prioritise these GDS
technology providers in the long term for the vast majority of NDC content.
However, this investment in TPConnects will enable us to aggregate additional
content not available through the GDS from a variety of different sources into
our various products across the leisure and corporate sector.”
fctgl.com; tpconnects.com