Leading travel commerce platform Travelport has received a Level 3 aggregator certification under Iata’s new distribution capability (NDC) initiative intended to create a new distribution standard for the airline industry.

Travelport is now the first global distribution system (GDS) travel commerce platform to acquire such status and will work with airline technology specialist Farelogix to implement the first such NDC connection with a major global airline, details of which will be announced soon. To prepare for this certification, Travelport also worked with the UK travel agency Meon Valley Travel.

Travelport was the first travel commerce platform to be granted ‘Aggregator Level One’ certification for its GDS and ‘IT Provider Level Two’ status by Iata in November 2016 and February 2017 respectively. Level 3 is the highest certification Iata awards to companies who can demonstrate the ability to execute full Offer and Order Management.

Derek Sharp, Travelport’s senior vice president and managing director of Air Commerce said: “We are grateful to Iata for this recognition and delighted to be the first travel commerce platform to now be fully NDC-Certified for the multisource era in distribution. We already connect travel buyers through the airline database ATPCo to more than 280 ancillaries. This NDC status will complement that. It will also complement our extensive existing API connections and our valued tools for critical workflows, servicing and synchronization. This is a complex process for all participants and we look forward to working with other partners in making this new era a success.”

Yanik Hoyles, Iata’s director NDC Program, commented: “GDSs are a fundamental business partner for NDC to drive significant volumes. For that reason, we welcome Travelport as the first GDS to become NDC level 3 certified as an aggregator. As a certified aggregator, Travelport will now be able to bring NDC to their existing customer base and broaden the scope to a wider range of airlines.”

Jim Davidson, CEO of Farelogix, added “As a partner in this initiative, we are reinforcing the power of NDC to deliver value across the travel supply chain. NDC distribution via the GDS is critical for industry-wide NDC adoption, and it’s great to see Travelport leading the way.”

Colin Boddy, corporate director of Meon Valley Travel, said: “We pride ourselves on deploying leading-edge technology throughout our business, so we are naturally delighted to have been instrumental in deploying this innovative development which has global significance for the travel industry.” - TradeArabia News Service