Eight months after the first New Distribution Capability (NDC) industry standard (PADIS 15.2) was published in September 2015, more than 15 airlines have deployed all or part of the standard.
Furthermore, among the top 25 airline groups, 20 have deployed, or have plans to deploy it. Recent high-profile announcements have included Emirates launching its NDC portal and British Airways increasing the capability of its NDC application programming interface (API).
Supporting this activity is rising participation from IT suppliers, with over 20 providers including the three global distribution systems building solutions around NDC.
"NDC is now mainstream," said Yanik Hoyles, Director, NDC Program. "In 2016, the scope of the program is transitioning to enhancing the standard and driving further deployment." To encourage more innovation, two NDC "hackathon" are being held this year.
The first is taking place in Berlin, Germany on 27-29 May and is focused on building business travel apps and solutions using NDC APIs.
An NDC Certification program also is being rolled out. Those eligible for NDC certification include airlines that deploy an NDC API or any agent or aggregator that consumes these APIs. Vendors that offer NDC products and services can become NDC capable.
"NDC certification ensures transparency and visibility for airlines that have implemented the standard and also for those who would like to connect to new partners using the NDC standard," said Hoyles.
To help the business travel community prepare for the arrival of the NDC Standard and take advantage of the benefits of implementation by airlines and travel agents, IATA has launched ndcbiztravel.iata.org, a microsite with tools and information relevant to business travel agents, self-booking tool providers and corporate travel buyers…
