Norwegian Airlines doesn’t see its distribution mix shifting materially as it enters new markets.
The low-cost airline, which recently announced its expansion into Argentina and is also growing in Europe and America, says its current mix of on average 80% direct distribution and 20% via the travel trade has been constant for about 10 years.
Norwegian recently announced a renewed and extended partnership with Amadeus, enabling it to sell via the third-party channel in destinations such as South America.
Lars Sande, senior vice president of sales and distribution for the airline, also says the partnership is important for Norwegian in terms of access to market insight.
“We know there is demand in Argentina for air travel, a lot of people are taking buses on very long distances, but we don’t have the insight necessary from day one on how to do this," he says.
"Amadeus has been good as a partner to share insight on how airfares are booked in the market and how people are paying, which is very valuable for us. We can go into the market a little more reassured we are doing the right thing.”
He adds that it’s not like in Europe where there are numerous low-cost carriers and high online penetration.
“It also hard for us to know what the status is right now and how it is going to develop in terms of people going more online. It’s a learning process going into new markets.”
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Also with a nod to the travel agency channel, Norwegian has developed API connections that are compliant with IATA’s New Distribution Capability technology standard. The airline is not an IATA member but saw the NDC standard as important in terms of the indirect channel.
“The travel trade is important to us, which is why we renewed this partnership because, from day one 16 years ago, we were in Amadeus, and in some segments in each market travel agencies are important. It’s very important in corporate traveler, also important for the ones that want to use indirect channels to have our inventory.”
Sande adds that the
travel agency channel will grow alongside the airline in new markets where it needs inventory to be distributed and does not have the employees to “run after” individual agencies.
As part of the expanded agreement, Norwegian will also implement Amadeus Customer Experience Management, which Sande says will help it personalize the experience for both direct customers and the wider market.