siliconindia | | March 20178FLYERS DESERVE MORE: PREPARE FOR A BIG TAKE-OFF WITH NEW DISTRIBUTION CAPABILITYBy Smriti Kumar, Co-Founder, Airlines TechnologyToday, when a traveller logs on to any online travel agent website, he punches destination city, origin city along with travel dates and gets results. 99 percent of us will choose best possible fare and move on. But in this pro-cess, we always miss out to understand which flight was actually best suited for us, which one had best meal, or may have missed on free upgrade or possible utilization of fre-quent flyer miles. As per IATA, 60 percent of Airlines res-ervations are managed through travel agents using Global Distribution Systems, and air-lines pay hefty fees for them. This tradition-al distribution model is finding it difficult to keep pace with `digitally aware' travellers. The model offers price-based comparison irrespective of traveller's relationship with the airline, thereby commoditizing the en-tire shopping process. Customers remain unknown to airlines until a transaction takes place. Thus, it is impossible for an airline to customize its offers for customers via indi-rect channels. Airlines right now are not able to sell any ancillary services (wifi, food, lounge, preferred seats, or boarding) on online trav-el agent (OTA) portal. This results in huge revenue and opportunity loss for airlines. Consumers also don't know what they de-serve. They see only fares and schedule (time of flight) on OTA portal and have to make choice from that. Due to technical limitations in existing eco system, travel agents do not have access to onboard offers and services of Airlines and are not able to execute the complete ticketing process (Booking, Modifications and Can-cellation). Travellers don't understand if two flights are offering same or similar price, or which one will suit the traveller's needs best. IATA's New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative provides an innovative ap-proach to airlines' products and services dis-tribution method. IATA is facilitating commu-nication between airlines and agencies. With multitude of benefits for travellers, airlines, agencies and aggregators, NDC aims to pro-vide a dynamic airline shopping experience with additional revenue generating opportu-IN MY OPINIONHeadquartered in Gurgaon, Airlines Technology is a travel technology company providing New Distribution Capability (NDC) based IT solution and services to airlines, travel agents and 3rd party vendors in travel industry. The latest digital distribution model offers price-based comparison irrespective of traveller's relationship with the airline, thereby commoditizing the entire shopping process
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