Study on impact of NDC standard

GENEVA  The International Air Transport Association and a Coalition of National Travel Agent Associations (The Group) are collaborating on a study to look at options that could benefit travel agents once the New Distribution Capability (NDC) XML standard is adopted by airlines and technology providers.
The study will be conducted by an independent consultant to be appointed jointly by The Group and IATA, who will undertake research and analysis.
The study will look at the impact from a business, technology and commercial perspective of NDC with reference to travel agents.
It will explore options to overcome possible obstacles to successful NDC implementation by parties within the travel value chain.
inside no 5It will also look at potential funding models for the transaction of airfares and airline ancillary products via the travel agent channel using the NDC standard.
The Group is comprised of associations representing agencies based in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA including the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA); the Association of Brazilian Travel Agents (ABAV); the Association of Canadian Travel Agents (ACTA); the Association of South African Travel Agents Association (ASATA); The Australian Federation Travel Agents (AFTA); the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand (TAANZ); and the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).
“With the full set of NDC ‘end-to-end’ schemas now available, this collaboration between IATA and The Group is a great opportunity to jointly understand the benefits and implications of NDC from the perspective of travel agents,” said IATA programme director for NDC, Yanik Hoyles.
“As a better understanding and acceptance of NDC by airlines becomes apparent, it is timely to now undertake this research study to investigate how travel agents might benefit from the implementation of the standard,” said AFTA CEO Jayson Westbury.
IATA represents some 250 airlines comprising 84% of global air traffic.

sourced:ttrweekly.com