Amadeus has created a dedicated NDC innovation program to help advance adoption of the IATA XML-based data transmission standard and spur innovation.
Experts from across Amadeus’ business will focus on practical use cases for NDC through an agile test and learn methodology which could help deliver new capabilities to travel partners along the supply chain, from airlines to travel agencies and beyond to passengers themselves.
The NDC-X program continues Amadeus’ previous work advancing the digitalization of the airline industry with a focus on commercially viable applications.
Amadeus VP Gianni Pisanello will take the lead of the new NDC-X program and says of its objectives:
“For NDC to truly take off, we need to create a real standard not only for the protocol itself, but also for how it’s implemented. We also need to ensure that it responds to travel seller requirements, and that it has the right economics to drive investment. At Amadeus, we recognize that we have a responsibility to make NDC work for all travel players, and that’s what we will be doing through our NDC-X program.”
Julia Sattel, SVP, Airlines, Amadeus adds:
“NDC holds great potential for the travel industry, and is part of a bigger picture of digitalization as airlines and travel sellers are testing new ways to adapt their businesses and improve services provided to the traveler. At Amadeus we are working hard to solve our airline customers’ technology challenges in areas such as merchandizing, dynamic pricing and cloud servicing, which we see as the heavy machinery in the background which will make NDC and improved retailing a reality.”
Amadeus confirmed its support of NDC adoption during IATA’s World Passenger Symposium (WPS) in Barcelona last year. Speaking with tnooz during that event, Pisanello emphasized the importance of airlines developing marketing strategies which make the most of new technology capabilities and that any innovation should advance business aims. He said:
“If we’re doing things to be disruptive, just for the sake of being disruptive, just for the sake of using technology, we’re going to fail and that’s going to cost us all a lot of money. That’s why our approach is more agile, working with the customer, and moving forward.
“We’re involved in many different areas and we’re going to support our customers in this digital revolution. When you talk about NDC, these are small parts of a much bigger picture, which is the digital transformation of an airline. We want to support airlines in that transformation.”
See Amadeus' related blog post.