Airline Direct Selling Through Travel Agencies May Prove Its Worth After the Crisis
Skift Take
A crisis brings out either the best or worst in people. Technology is no different, and so-called New Distribution Capability could have a new lease of life.
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Despite some wangling about commercial models, it’s a dream scenario for global trade body the International Air Transportation Association, which concocted the idea back in 2012. The global airline body was so confident of its success that at its World Passenger Symposium in October 2017, it predicted a “leaderboard” of airlines would see 20% of their sales powered by NDC in 2020. Then came coronavirus. The airlines have been grounded, but has the same applied to New Distribution Capability? And with the pause leading to a lot reflecting on the travel ecosystem, what role will the standard have in the post-coronavirus era? Skift talked to some of the key players to take stock, and to gauge the technology’s future path. PLUGGING IN A couple of years ago the industry reached a tipping point of airlines adopting the standard, with the Lufthansa group, IAG and Air France-KLM leading the charge. In early 2019, the list of certified deployments stood at some 65 carriers. The momentum gave rise to a new generation of start-ups that spotted an opportunity: rather than thousands of agencies developing individual connections to each of the airlines, why not create a platform that feeds in multiple airline connections, offering agencies a “plug and play” approach to pick the airlines they want. On the frontline are Duffel, Kyte and AirGateway, which have based their business models on the success of the airline standard. Duffel, which launched last year, has corporate travel agencies in its sights, and enables them to search, book, and manage flights across 20 airlines. “