Lufthansa Group and travel technology giant Amadeus have announced a new distribution agreement to make NDC-sourced airfares available through Amadeus’ platforms.
The deal, which will take effect from the start of October, will include NDC offers from Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Air Dolomiti and Eurowings Discover.
These fares, including continuous pricing and ancillary services, will be available through Amadeus’ NDC-enabled interfaces: Amadeus Selling Platform Connect, Amadeus Travel API and Cytric Travel & Expense. TMCs and other travel sellers will also continue to have access to content from Lufthansa Group’s airlines through existing EDIFACT technology.
Tamur Goudarzi Pour, chief commercial officer of Swiss, called the distribution deal with Amadeus “groundbreaking” in the development of NDC-enabled fares.
“We continue on our path to modernise airline retailing together with our long-term partner Amadeus. Together, as industry leaders, we will substantially accelerate the penetration of modern industry standards such as NDC on a global scale,” added Goudarzi Pour.
Lufthansa Group and Amadeus are working to integrate the airlines’ NDC-based offers into the Amadeus Travel Platform through a “gradual” global roll-out from the fourth quarter of 2022 onwards. This roll-out will begin in selected European markets.
Decius Valmorbida, president of travel at Amadeus, added: “This agreement comes at a time when NDC and the move towards travel retailing is evolving rapidly, and we believe such traveller-centric partnerships will be critical to the sustainable growth of our industry.”