Travelport reckons it has become the first GDS to manage
live bookings of flights using IATA's New Distribution Capability (NDC).
The company claims the first transaction was made by a
British travel agency (Meon Valley Travel) last week.
The ticket sold was for a short-haul, low-cost flight from
London to Milan in Italy, using Travelport's Smartpoint desktop system for
agents. Travelport has not disclosed the name of the airline.
Travelport CEO Gordon Wilson said, "This is a landmark
moment for airline distribution. We are delighted to have taken a lead in
bringing the NDC era to life. We are still at the very earliest stages of NDC
deployment. Its evolution will continue to take time as we learn from the
practical experience of its first use."
Travelport says its first version of the NDC capability will
be used by a "steadily increasing number of agencies and airlines as part
of the NDC rollout."
The company achieved Level 3 certification to become an
aggregator of NDC-based ticketing in December 2017.
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Source: Phocuswire