Travelport boasts the first IATA NDC Level 3 certification

20 December, 2017

Travelport, announced last week it was now certified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as a "Level 3" aggregator 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 the 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.

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 Nov-2016 and Feb-2017 respectively. Level 3 is the highest certification IATA awards to companies who can demonstrate the ability to execute full Offer and Order Management.

Travelport Senior VP and MD of Air Commerce Derek Sharp, 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."

IATA Director NDC Program Yanik Hoyles said: "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."

At the recent CAPA Asia Aviation Summit in Nov-2017, Mr Hoyles discussed some of the complexities of the NDC, the airlines involvement, and explored the role of key organisations throughout the value change.

To hear directly from Mr Hoyles watch below: