DISTRIBUTION / AIR CONTENT
2018 when it announced that it would be withdrawing its most basic short-haul, point-to-point package from the GDS and distributing it as an NDC product. The reaction could be described only as a hullabaloo. Paul Tilstone, managing partner of Festive Road, explains why: “Five years ago a distribution cost charge and an aggressive approach by Lufthansa pushed the European market faster than the American approach
consultancy set up the TMAG, IATA’s travel manager advisory group which now numbers about 40 members and acts as a sounding board for IATA. However, it seems that the pandemic – with the virtual stoppage of air traffic – provided an opportunity for airlines to double down and take stock. In Tilstone’s words, “the net effect of the pandemic won’t have slowed down roll-out in any way.” Business journeys are often more complex than leisure trips and TMCs are more dependent on the GDSs There was no industry standard for NDC when it began. Content had to be made available to TMCs via aggregators who would provide API pipes from relevant carriers. NDC content had not been developed to conform to GDS constraints. Lufthansa’s NDC had some early corporate adopters such as Volvo and
Siemens but their connection was not direct to Lufthansa but via an aggregator. As Hoyles concedes, the majority of early usage was in leisure travel which was more straightforward journeys. He continues, “You’ve got to start somewhere and business travel is taking longer. Business journeys are more complex and TMCs are more dependent on GDSs and the time frame in which they can do things is dependent on their GDS’s
– of more of a carrot than a stick – because it created a business case for change for corporates. Once you bring potential cost into the system you need to bring action.” Cost drives everything. No one denies that change and service will cost – it’s just a case of who pays and how much.
readiness. It depends on a lot of mid and back-office integrations which is now beginning to happen.” Like a number of his fellow interviewees for this piece, he is optimistic that IATA’s latest standard – version 21.3 – will move NDC significantly forward. Importantly, it will accommodate all updates made subsequently, an important facility which has been lacking in previous versions. It will also create an industry standard. This means airlines’ will be laying out their offer in similar formats which will make life much easier for distributors. “Having different versions has been difficult but now we have the more
CONVINCING CORPORATES Tilstone reflects on the
transition from an angry and frustrated corporate travel community to the “we’re all on a journey” atmosphere of today. “After lots and lots of discussion and pressure from buyers to engage in dialogue, we were making progress prior to the pandemic,” he says. “During the pandemic there was almost a sort of ‘NDC’s going to be dead now’ view from quite a few people but NDC insight groups still operated.” In 2015 Tilstone’s Festive Road
mature version,” says Hoyles. He says NDC is a journey that won’t happen overnight but will happen because of industry will and collaboration. But this optimism is not universal. Chief executive and founder of Snowfall, Stefan Cars, which offers Junction, an aggregator of
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businesstravelnewseurope.com | SPRING 2023
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