Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has been awarded the New Distribution Capability (NDC) Level 4 certification, by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). NDC enhances communication between the airline industry and travel agents, which allows for more effective merchandising, competitive propositions and product personalisation.
The NDC standard allows Etihad Airways to transform the way its products are retailed to corporations, leisure and business travellers by addressing the industry’s current distribution limitations such as time-to-market and product differentiation.
Level 4 is among the highest NDC certifications awarded by IATA and demonstrates that Etihad’s NDC Offer and Order capability now includes full service and change capability. As a result, partners can now shop, order and amend the order using the NDC connection.
Vijay Bathija, Vice President Revenue Management, Etihad Airways said: “Achieving IATA’s Level 4 NDC certification is an important milestone in Etihad’s accelerated digital transformation programme, and a necessity to connect with major players and aggregators. Embracing an agile delivery model is proof of Etihad’s commitment to providing more choice and greater flexibility to our trade partners and customers. The capability gives Etihad the ability to create tailored offers and communicate more effectively with customers, to best meet their travel needs and respond quickly to changing market conditions.”
“Receiving Level 4 NDC Certification is a major achievement on Etihad’s airline retailing journey, one that will provide travellers with richer content and increased transparency regardless of distribution channel,” said Yanik Hoyles, IATA’s Director Distribution.
IATA provides the only official industry certification programme in support of the New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard, the NDC Certification Programme. IATA represents the interests of some 290 airlines worldwide and has been advocating a New Distribution Capability to modernise business and communication between carriers and the travel trade.
Photo caption (left to right): Lars Denlew, Head of Digital & Distribution and Leslie Varghese, Senior Manager Distribution of Etihad Airways, Khaled Al Eisawi, Head of Account Management, IATA, Vijay Bathija, Vice President Revenue management and Jasem Alfardan, Manager Inventory of Etihad Airways.
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