American Airlines and BCD Travel will both join Amadeus'
NDC-X program, an effort to bring New Distribution Capability-enabled solutions
to life.
Just last week, American Express Global Business Travel and
Carlson Wagonlit Travel joined as partners in the program.
American is the first major U.S. carrier to join Amadeus' NDC-X.
"Amadeus' NDC-X program represents a great opportunity
to work with leaders across the travel industry, including corporate managed
travel, to bring American's NDC content to Amadeus," said Alison Taylor, American's
senior vice president of global sales and distribution.
With BCD's inclusion, the top four travel management companies
on Travel Weekly's 2018 Power List are involved in the program: Amex GBT (No. 3), BCD (No. 4), Carlson Wagonlit
(No. 5) and Flight Centre Travel Group USA (No. 6).
"Our aim is to provide a seamless customer experience
that drives the booking, spend management and security processes that add value
to client programs," said Thane Jackson, BCD's vice president of global
distribution and channel strategy. "We, along with the entire industry,
will benefit from the program's focus on practical NDC use cases in a
test-and-learn environment to deliver improved capabilities."