Saudi Arabia Airlines (Saudia) has appointed TPConnects, a leading technology solutions provider, as its new distribution capability (NDC) partner to manage the NDC standard platform.

Launched by IATA, the New Distribution Capability (NDC) is a key transformation project to modernize airline distribution.

"At Saudia, implementation of NDC is seen as a major Transformation project focusing on revenue drivers, major cost reducing programs and implementing ONE Order initiatives, beyond opportunities in distribution. NDC standards enable Saudia to offer our guests the opportunity to have a consistent shopping experience, including access to rich content, ability to buy ancillary products and services and to be recognized and receive personalised offers, wherever they shop for Saudia products, especially from the Travel Agents and Online Travel Agency channels. TPConnects demonstrates the ability to deliver an NDC Platform to meet our commitment towards our partners and customers and we look forward for the delivery and the end-to-end completion with a modular approach,” said Rashed Al-Ajmi, vice president sales at Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Yanik Hoyles, Iata director, NDC Program, said: “I am delighted that Saudia has embarked on the NDC journey. It proves once again that there is no barrier to any airline taking advantage of this new initiative and I am sure many more Middle Eastern carriers will soon be joining Saudia in offering this new air travel purchasing experience to their customers.”

The introduction of NDC could help travel agents to improve the offering to the customer, to upsell additional services including branded fares or fare families which are of value to both the traveler and the corporation and create business process improvements.

“Partnering with Saudia to deliver end-to-end NDC implementation in a modular approach gives TPConnects tremendous opportunity to showcase the benefits of NDC especially in terms of increase in revenue and reducing distribution cost with our proven distribution technology," said Praveen Kumar, chief technology officer of TPConnects.

TPConnects will roll out the NDC based distribution platform and deliver live NDC transactions by the beginning of 2017. Saudia's vision is to facilitate a single reference number for a passenger holding all data elements in a travel cycle including flights, ancillaries and non-air products like hotels, cars, activities etc which will simplify the travel experience of customers. - TradeArabia News Service