As a partner in the Amadeus-NDC [X] programme, FCM and parent company Flight Centre Travel Group has successfully booked NDC airline content through the latest version of Amadeus’ agency-facing Selling Platform Connect solution.
The ‘milestone’ development will allow UK customers to book British Airways’ NDC content from the end of October, including the airlines’ short-haul and long-haul NDC fares and ancillary services.
Amadeus says a key advantage for travel sellers is that they can now view and compare all available airline flights and related services for any given trip on one single screen, whether they are sourced from EDIFACT, NDC or other APIs.
Initially available offline through FCM consultants, the TMC says the next stage on its roadmap is to ensure online booking tools improve their ability to integrate and display NDC content.
“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,” says Nicola Ping, Manager, Air Content & Distribution EMEA, Flight Centre/FCM.
“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.”
Ping adds: “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… so that we can collaborate towards a better solution not just for ourselves, but on behalf of the customer and TMC community.”
