Sabre Corporation has successfully integrated IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC) content from Qatar Airways (QR) into its global distribution system (GDS). After an initial pilot phase with agency customers in Australia and Sweden, the leading software and technology company powering the global travel industry will now roll out the offers of Qatar's flag carrier successively to travel agencies worldwide starting on 7 July 2022.
Travel agencies can now shop, book, and manage NDC offers from Qatar Airways via Sabre Red 36 - Sabre's agency point-of-sale tool, its NDC-enabled Offer and Order Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
"We've been actively engaged in Sabre's Beyond NDC program for several years, and we're proud to be the first carrier based in EMEA to make our products and offers available to the global travel agency community through Sabre's marketplace," said Matt Raos, Senior Vice President Global Sales at Qatar Airways. "With NDC as a part of our strategy to evolve our offering and enhance ancillary sales, we believe effective distribution in the indirect channel will become more important in the future."
With Qatar Airways' vast network of destinations, access to the carrier's unique NDC content is anticipated to be relevant to travel buyers worldwide in the post-pandemic recovery period and beyond.
"As the corporate travel sector continues to recover, customers are looking for enhanced shopping experiences and improved content in their marketplace," said John Bukowski, Vice President of Distribution, Content and Sourcing at American Express Global Business Travel. "Our objective is to ensure that our customers and travellers have access to the broadest content and an unrivalled travel experience. We are excited about collaborating with Qatar Airways and Sabre to continue evolving our customers' access to content while delivering the service and experience they expect from American Express GBT."
NDC is one facet of Sabre's strategic goal to build a new marketplace for personalised travel, with some significant developments slated for 2022. Dynamic air pricing for NDC offers is expected to be available with the recently debuted Air Price IQ product within the Sabre Retail Intelligence suite. This will allow airlines to optimise offers in real-time via machine learning and data analytics capabilities based on airlines' distinct strategies and needs.
Sabre is included in the Airline Retailing Maturity (ARM) index from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as an NDC aggregator and airline IT provider. Radixx, a growth airline technology supplier powered by Sabre, is also anticipated to become certified as an airline IT provider under the ARM index later this year.
"We've always said that NDC is a marathon, not a sprint," said Kathy Morgan, vice president, Channel Delivery, Sabre Travel Solutions. "We believe that realising the potential of NDC is a collaborative effort, and we are excited about the progress we are making with carriers like Qatar Airways. Alongside strategic efforts like Sabre Travel AI and the launch of our Retail Intelligence suite of products, these NDC achievements expand and progress our opportunities to advance personalised retailing."
