Kyte has announced a new partnership with Air Canada to enable a direct connection to Air Canada’s next-generation distribution platform.
It comes as the airline outlined the next step in its NDC journey, following the lead of other airlines who are changing their distribution strategies.
Air Canada’s direct access is live and available now for integration on the Kyte platform.
Travel sellers who choose to access the airline’s content via the Kyte API will have streamlined access to its NDC platform, including the full set of Air Canada merchandised Fare Brands and ancillaries and innovative NDC-based products, such as Air Canada for Business and Flight Pass.
“Distributing our product to all of our customers, wherever they choose to shop, in a transparent, informative and accurate manner can be challenging to say the least, given the outdated system technology that some of these sellers are using,” says Keith Wallis, Senior Director, Distribution & Payments at Air Canada.
“By taking advantage of the technology being used by Kyte in their NDC enabled Kyte API, we rest assured that customers will be able to experience the full value of what Air Canada has to offer.”
Alice Ferrari, CEO at Kyte, added: “This announcement comes at an important time for Air Canada as they double down on embracing their NDC strategy.
“With the Kyte API, Air Canada will offer a modern and simple API for travel partners wanting to quickly implement Air Canada’s newly NDC differentiated content. We are committed to working with Air Canada in driving the best value out of their third party sales, outside of the GDSs”.
Announcing its new NDC strategy this week, Air Canada said continuous pricing, as well as the addition of Flight Pass, is planned for 2023.
It also promised upgraded service and support levels, including dedicated business and IT teams, 24/7 monitoring and near real-time system status, with additional servicing automation options and order change notifications also slated for this year.
“We recognise the time and effort required by agency partners to transition to new technology and we are committed to supporting them,” said Lisa M. Pierce, Vice President, Global Sales & Air Canada Vacations at Air Canada.
“Their feedback to-date has served to shape our implementation plans. For example, our focus on introducing new content on NDC rather than removing existing content from GDS EDIFACT channels is a direct result of agency partner inputs. We will continue to actively listen to feedback, and we’ll use it to shape our policies and roadmap of future products and features enabled by NDC.”
Air Canada will offer four flexible options for NDC access, ranging from API integration and a free web-based tool to a growing catalogue of certified technology providers and a GDS-based solution.
From June 14 it will introduce a Distribution Cost Recovery (DCR) “to address the high expense of legacy models”, which will be applicable to all tickets issued globally via GDS EDIFACT channels.
The DCR does not apply to bookings made via any of Air Canada’s NDC connection options including NDC-sourced content in a GDS solution, as well as through Air Canada’s other direct booking channels such as aircanada.com, aircanada.com/agents, Air Canada for Business, and the Air Canada mobile app, or group bookings.
Additional content immediately available on NDC technology includes domestic Basic fares, with best available seat inventory and discounted ancillary pricing becoming available on June 14.
An NDC coupon incentive will also be introduced on June 14 to support agency transition and will apply to eligible NDC bookings made directly with an Air Canada NDC API connection or via select NDC certified technology partners.
