THE NEW DISTRIBUTION CAPABILITY (NDC) 631 NDC Interline significantly simplifies interlining and transforms this step into a new revenue opportunity. Whenever an offer needs to be completed by a partner, this can be done dynamically, with the partner making its own offer for the part it needs to cover – for flights and/or ancillaries, therefore providing a real improvement when being used, especially with close partners. Typically, this can be very beneficial within an alliance or airline grouping. In addition, NDC provides the opportunity for airline products to be more “sellable”, by being presented to additional channels (e.g., direct connect, new aggregators, etc.) or by offering additional means of payment. More sellable, in the sense that the airline’s offer is presented in more “windows” (channels), hence more likely to be seen and sold. Currently, airlines are confronted – in some instances – with significant failures when selling, due to non-synchronisation between the availability displayed, for example, in an OTA (or a metasearch) and its own inventory. NDC provides an opportunity to solve this, therefore increasing the ability to book. Implementation of the NDC standards can also drive cost benefits. Airlines may choose to file fewer fares and rely on dynamic pricing. In this case, the airline’s current fare filing processes can be simplified and therefore lead to lower costs: reduction in the cost of administration and management. Besides creating a potential increase in revenue, as seen above, being exposed through an additional channel may also allow the airline to benefit frompotential distribution savings. In the longer term, to take advantage of the standardisation proposed by NDC, even a common API could be enough for an airline to propose its products to all indirect channels. Less complexity means less structural costs. Airlines will also save costs thanks to simplification of the interline process. They may not need to file the interline agreements as today. On top of that, interline settlement disputes could disappear as the settlement values are communicated and agreed upfront when shopping: therefore, interline billing is straightforward. As the airline produces the Offer and is responsible for the Order (booking and ticketing), it manages much more closely how its product is sold, with less risk of interference (thanks to the notion of Offer and Order ID). Therefore, several revenue integrity checks are no longer needed, and the airline (as well as its travel agent partners) can expect a significant reduction in agent debit memos (ADMs).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==