Air Canada Begins Using a New Way to Distribute Fares to Partners
Photo Credit: The Air Canada Signature Class cabin on the 787 Dreamliner. This month Air Canada processed its first New Distribution Capability production transaction via NDC Exchange, a platform that simplifies the adoption of the International Air Transport Association’s standard. Air Canada
Skift Take
New technologies, practices, and vendors are emerging to help airlines distribute their airfares. The new landscape is complex. But Air Canada's latest effort reveals at least one part of the emerging picture.
The airline industry has talked a lot about how it can use new distribution capabilities to embrace novel ways of retailing airfares to corporate and leisure travelers.
But airlines and travel agencies have only begun to process transactions via the new ways. The shape of the future is unclear.
For a glimpse at what may come, look to Air Canada, which this week processed its first transaction via a new platform called NDC Exchange. Before explaining what that is and its significance, let's set the scene.
For several years now, Air Canada has offered internet-based connections for online travel agencies and travel management companies to access its airfares. These worked outside of the incumbent three giants of travel distribution, Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport.
About 40 to 50 agencies access Air Canada's application programming interfaces, or APIs, to process about a million tickets a year via direct connections that avoid the intermediaries. This year, Air Canada will ge
