Qantas makes first live NDC bookings in Travelport’s test API

Qantas makes first live NDC bookings in Travelport’s test API

Reservations made through Trip Services in live production environment

Travelport has seen the first API-connection bookings made for Australian carrier Qantas using Iata’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard.

The bookings were made in a live production test environment as Qantas prepares distribution of differentiated NDC content.

Travelport said the development was the next step in its continuing support for Qantas’ NDC, including the Qantas Distribution Platform (QDP).

Jason Clarke, chief commerical officer – travel partners at Travelport, said: “We know our customers need to be able to consume content regardless of its source.

“It’s exciting to see Trip Services processing live API bookings for customers as the next step in the ongoing delivery of our multi-source content roadmap.

“NDC delivery is complex and requires collaboration from all parts of the travel industry and we are grateful to our test agencies for partnering with us to ensure we deliver an NDC solution which makes the process of buying and managing travel continually better for everyone.”

The bookings are the first live production Qantas NDC bookings through Trip Services, Travelport’s new API.

The GDS’s agency partners taking part in the testing program, including ATPI and Maxim’s Travel, have been successfully coding to the Trip Services API since early in Q3 and Q2 2019 respectively.

Having been the first GDS to make a live NDC booking in October 2018, Travelport has already connected to five airlines’ NDC content.

Early adopter test agencies have made live bookings through Travelport’s desktop solution, Smartpoint, as part of a phased roll out over the last year.

The airline industry has been developing NDC since 2012 with the aim of extending customisation to agents and establishing closer relationships between airlines and customers.