Sabre enlists NDC partners

FLIGHT Centre, Carlson Wagonlit Travel and American Express Global Business Travel are among several “travel industry giants” who were overnight named as launch partners for Sabre Corporation’s new “Beyond NDC” technology program.

Beyond NDC is described as a “collaboration initiative chartered to drive the industry forward” through the development, integration and testing of capabilities to process offers and orders under IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC).

American Airlines is also part of the program, with Sabre Travel Solutions president Dave Shirk saying the partnerships would allow Sabre to “bring to market NDC-enabled solutions that go beyond shopping and booking to integrate with the retailing, distribution and fulfilment systems that support the travel ecosystem”.

“Launching this program with such heavyweights illustrates that we are looking past the near-term goals of NDC to define the future of intelligent airline retailing at scale in both direct and indirect channels,” Shirk said.

In May Sabre unveiled a roadmap to offer NDC-enabled solutions by the end of 2018, with Flight Centre Travel Group head of air business Greg Parker saying the collaboration would deliver “exciting, next-generation solutions and drive consistency in the end-to-end process”.

More info on the Beyond NDC program at sabre.com.