Global distribution system Sabre has
integrated Qatar Airways’ NDC content, allowing agency customers to shop, book
and service additional fares and offers.
Following a pilot phase with agencies in
Sweden and Australia, Qatar Airways becomes the third airline to roll-out NDC
content with Sabre, following in the footsteps of Singapore Airlines and
Qantas.
Qatar’s NDC content is available through
Sabre Red 360, its agency point-of-sale tool, as well as its NDC-enabled Offer
and Order APIs.
Salman Syed, Sabre’s vice president EMEA, told BTN Europe: “We have another eight airlines in pilot phase and a slew of airlines
in initial discussions. The roll-outs will be staggered but we expect to have
at least a couple more live by Q4.”
He added: “The extent of the pilot programmes
depends on the complexity and scale of the integration, as well as the airline’s
capability. They are the source of the content so they need to have the
appetite.”
Qatar
Airways’ senior vice president, global sales, Matt Raos said: “We’ve been
actively engaged in Sabre’s Beyond NDC programme 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.
“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.”
Sabre was recently recognised
as a system provider for both airlines and
travel sellers in IATA’s new Airline Retailing Maturity (ARM) index.
The company said it expects dynamic air
pricing for NDC offers to become available with the recent launch of its Air
Price IQ product, enabling airlines to optimise offers in real-time based on their
particular strategies.
Syed said the company has seen “robust travel recovery”
in EMEA and is gaining market share in the region. “We’re seeing almost double-digit
growth and that’s down to new customers signing up.”
He said Sabre is “doubling down on investment in
EMEA” and highlighted “powerful” partnerships with Google and American Express
Global Business Travel.
“We partnered with Google exclusively in the travel
space to innovate new products and services. It has given us the capability to embed
automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence.”
Syed believes automation in the workplace will help
travel suppliers get to grips with widespread challenges in the travel industry
currently, as well as providing more attractive, user-friendly tools for those
entering the workplace.
“Millennials want to use modern, digital workspaces,
so automation is going to help attract and retain new people. It’s about adding
value, saving time and improving productivity,” said Syed.