Flight Centre invests in NDC

FLIGHT Centre Travel Group (FCTG) has secured a 22.47% interest in TPConnects Technologies to ensure “access to the widest choice of airfares and content, including offers that sometimes sit outside the traditional channels”.

The Dubai-based travel tech platform has a New Distribution Capability (NDC), Global Distribution System (GDS) and ONE Order based travel technology platform and software development resources, which FCTG said is “enhancing airlinetravel agent connectivity”.

FCTG has also entered into a commercial arrangement to access TPConnects’ Software as a Service function and use its International Air Transport Association (IATA) NDC Certified Travel Aggregator platform, which aggregates NDC and GDS content.

FCTG Executive General Manager Global Air Distribution Business Greg Parker said the company had been working closely with TPConnects and had been impressed by its capability and flexibility of its NDC-enabled retail and distribution technology.

“The TPConnects SaaS platform enables agencies to intelligently control content sources across all major GDS providers, as well as directly connected NDC application programming interfaces (APIs), ensuring the best content is surfaced for customers,” he said.

“We look forward to working with our preferred partners to leverage connectivity to drive additional retailing capabilities at scale and to provide our leisure and corporate customers with an easy-to-use and highly personalised one-stop-shop for trip planning, shopping and booking.”

FCTG said the terms of the investment are immaterial to the company and “are currently confidential”.