In the past two weeks there have been two stories which jumped to the top of the most popular list on BTN Europe.
The first was the news that Emirates is to start charging for GDS content from July, on the same day that it launches exclusive content on its direct connect platform, Emirates Gateway, enabled by IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC).
The second was that International Airlines Group, the parent of British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus, had reached a deal to give Amadeus-connected agents and corporates access to NDC content from the send half of this year.
It seems the industry is still really interested in what is happening with regards to NDC and our publication of those stories resulted in some highly charged dialogue from those in the sector on LinkedIn. We decided to return to the topic in this week’s podcast to answer some of the questions and comments that came up as a result.
In the podcast, we discuss how the downturn in business travel caused by the pandemic has slashed money flows in the system and this gives an opportunity to rethink how that money moves around the industry. TMCs, in particular, are desperate to avoid becoming commercialised and need to be able to generate more revenue per trip.
We seem to be moving to a world in which every player in the supply chain is going to be paid for they value they provide and some are scared about what that looks like.
But what is NDC content? NDC content can be anything from an extra bag to even providing a mariachi band to play you out as you board the plane if that’s what you want. The problem with that is control and the airlines have challenges providing that level of control even between hubs and different members of their airline alliances.
NDC promises a new retailing world but who is the retailer? TMC, airline or online booking tool?
We ask these questions and more. The discussision features Nike’s Daniel Tallos, David Bishop of Gray Dawes Group and Paul Tilstone of Festive Road along with regular host Mark Frary.