Air Canada will add a fee of between US$20 and US$30 to all tickets issued globally via GDS EDIFACT channels from 14 June, the carrier announced on Wednesday.
The fee will not apply to bookings made via any of Air Canada's New Distribution Capability connections, including NDC-sourced content in a global distribution system, or through the carrier's other direct booking channels, according to the carrier.
The move is part of a series of distribution changes for Air Canada designed to drive bookings to direct or NDC channels.
"The financial model associated with classic distribution has become unsustainable," Air Canada SVP of products, marketing and e-commerce Mark Nasr said during a Tuesday media conference.
"As part of this transition, we will be introducing a distribution recovery cost. It will be an amount applied to bookings that go over the classic EDIFACT old-school channel."
The fee will be based per ticket and will vary by global distribution system, Air Canada senior director of distribution and payments Keith Wallis said. "We will publish specific rates closer to 14 June, but I can confirm the range will fall between US$20 to $30 per ticket," he said. "But it is important to note we've created many options where the fee doesn't apply."
The carrier plans to add content to its NDC channels as opposed to removing it from legacy channels, executives said, a noted difference from the approach American Airlines took when it launched its new NDC requirements on 3 April.
"Our number one goal with this transformation is to do it in a way that is smooth and not necessarily disruptive for the trade and for our joint partners," Nasr said.
The carrier is also offering intermediaries such as TMCs a $2/€2.50/£2.50 coupon incentive from 14 June and available through the end of 2024 "to support agency transition and will apply to eligible NDC bookings made directly with an Air Canada NDC API connection or via select NDC certified technology partners," according to the company.
Additional NDC content
Content such as the carrier’s domestic basic fares is immediately available in NDC channels, while best available seat inventory and discounted ancillary pricing will be available from 14 June.
Planned additions include self-service options and order-change notification. The carrier also is laying the foundation in NDC for continuous pricing, Wallis said.
"We will have 24/7 real-time monitoring on the NDC channel, near-real-time performance status, and we will be very public about how well or not well our NDC channel is performing," Wallis added.
"We also are hiring people in distribution, sales and the IT team dedicated to NDC. We have clear escalation procedures. When things go wrong, we will have access to people and processes to get a quick resolution."
Options for travel agencies
The carrier is offering four options for travel agencies to access NDC content. The first is what it calls the "build" option, for agencies with in-house technology resources they control, said Wallis.
For what it called the "buy" option, Air Canada has pre-connected the new NDC APIs into most of the leading "usual suspects in third-party travel distribution," Wallis said.
The "free" option is a web-based Air Canada NDC booking tool that has only Air Canada content.
The last option, connecting through a global distribution system, is offered because "in all discussions, we heard very clearly from travel agencies that a GDS-based NDC option was extremely important," Wallis said.
The carrier earlier this month announced that Amadeus would provide its NDC content, which will be available in the Amadeus platform in June.