NDC API Integration - Connect To The World’s Top Airlines

What is NDC API Integration?

NDC stands for New Distribution Capability, which is essentially an XML standard created by the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) to allow airline service providers to deliver rich content and ancillaries to their clients.

NDC API Integration is a communication standard developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that empowers airlines to distribute their content directly to travel agents, corporate clients, and other third-party distributors through an API interface. Rich content is the only key to staying ahead of the competition and building a unique brand image for airlines.

This API standardizes communication between airlines and travel providers, enabling them to gain access to a wider range of airline services, products, and personalized offers. 

Additionally, NDC API integration enables airlines to provide richer content, such as images and videos, as well as dynamic pricing, allowing travel providers to provide more personalized experiences to their customers.

The NDC standard’s goal provides airlines with direct information about their customers. Airlines want software providers to connect them to NDC as it offers unrivaled rich content to highlight the passenger experience, personalized offers, and optimized pricing structures.

The New Distribution Capability will allow the travel industry to transform how air products are retailed to corporations, leisure, and business travelers by discussing the industry's current distribution limitations, which include product differentiation and time-to-market, access to full and rich air content, and, eventually, a transparent customer experience.

Airlines can offer their full range of products and services directly to customers using NDC API Integration, including ancillary services such as seat upgrades, baggage fees, and in-flight meals. This can lead to increased revenue for airlines and more customized and efficient travel booking experiences for customers.

Passenger data collection via New Distribution Capability provides an excellent platform for remarkable pricing policy.

An industry standard will create the airline distribution system more efficient, benefiting airlines, agents, GDSs, IT providers, and travel start-ups. The NDC standard’s goal is to provide airlines with direct information about their customers.

Structured around seven distribution-related functions, the NDC Standard offers possibilities to address the end-to-end airline distribution process, e.g. shopping, booking, etc., and to deliver enhanced customer experiences.

For example, OTAs and other travel services interact with airlines' APIs to get information from the airline's system to choose seats, baggage options, meal preferences, and other amenities. Then, the API takes the airline’s response to the request and provides it right back to the OTA.

Software providers can implement APIs via API gateways. An API gateway is the software that accepts all API requests from a client, determines which services are required, and combines them into a concise and seamless user experience.

Since NDC is growing in popularity among airlines, software providers have begun to provide them with APIs for shopping, flight searching, and booking. Good API integration will enable airlines to provide well-connected systems, allowing them to provide a better experience for their guests.

Seasoned software providers can use airlines’ business functions and data via internal APIs and incorporate them with NDC offerings. This allows airlines' existing passenger management systems to accomplish business functions by NDC without having to develop entirely new software, which is beneficial to profits.

Whose Involved in NDC?

There are several distinct players involved in the NDC process: travel agents, airlines, aggregators, and IT providers.

Travel agents and airlines are simple. Aggregators are various intermediaries involved in communicating the travel agent's request to various airlines. GDS (Travelport was recently certified as an NDC provider) or metasearch can be used (Skyscanner has been the fastest adopter). The IT providers are responsible for integrating NDC into the airline’s IT infrastructure.

What makes Trawex the best NDC API Partner?

Trawex is connected to Flight NDC content. Our professional team has extensive experience integrating Flight NDC technology into the airline's IT infrastructure. Also, we gather all Flight NDC content in a single location and distribute it across the systems via XML API. We offer the best Flight NDC Integration for airlines.

This Flight NDC offers customized airline products and services to online travel agencies. Integrating Flight NDC into airline online travel portals will aid in lowering flight distribution costs and gaining new revenue streams for the business.

We're extending our expertise in Flight NDC Integration for distribution of NDC Flight Content. All flight content is delivered via the Flight NDC API. We provide flight NDC connections for travel agents to earn more NDC-style flight bookings with the best Flight NDC Content. This contains ancillary services like seat upgrades, transfers, hotels, and more to provide customers with the best options.

We offer the best Flight NDC content for airlines. We offer dynamic packages such as Flight + Holiday, Flight + Hotel, and more to assist customers in planning an ideal vacation.

At Trawex, we collaborate with a proven goal of offering our clients the best services that include travel technology solutions, travel portal development, NDC API Integration, Online Flight Booking Software, etc.

Integrating NDC API is one of the exceptional parts of our services, and here are some factors that make us the best NDC API partner.

Profound Development Skills

New Distribution Capability consists of XML standards that facilitate communication between the third party and its associates. Only a skilled individual can provide a comprehensive solution that is integrated from all ends.

Trawex has a team of experts who have achieved excellence in their work over time. They not only create solutions, but they also tailor them to your specific needs. Architecture, performance, and API Integration with a prevalent booking system, we cover all.

Excellent Knowledge of the Airline Sector

Having development skills is of no use without complete knowledge of the airline sector. Through our years of service in the airline sector, we gained enough knowledge to serve our client's needs. We recognize the significance of knowledge in offering excellent NDC API integration that aids airlines in revenue generation.

Outstanding Project Handling

Being the best NDC API partner, our customer understands us for outstanding project handling. We interact with our best team to manage every single project. We pay equal attention to every need of our clients, big or small.

Maintaining transparency in our work, we offer our clients complete details of past projects, success ratio, deadlines, and goal achievement. Trawex involves our clients in the process by guiding them throughout the project.

Statutory Compliance

While performing our obligation, we take care of all statutory compliance. Every time airlines add or remove a service from their system, we make a legal agreement keeping IATA guidelines in mind. We enable our clients to freely expand their businesses on a global scale.

Quality Service

At Trawex, we provide ongoing training to our team that brings up the best tool for our clients. Our trained developers make us an excellent NDC API Integration partner. We never compromise service quality for cost and leave no chance of mistake.

We leave no stone unturned to offer our clients quality service within their budget. Our clients' goals include on-time delivery, quality service, lower operating costs, and increased revenue.

NDC Certified

We have completed all of the requirements to be called a renowned NDC API partner. Trawex, as the best IT provider, has got NDC level 4 certification. It makes us ideal for sharing our excellence with our partners or clients.

Features of NDC API integration to the airline industry

The key features of NDC API integration for the airline industry include:

• Real-time access to airline products and services: NDC API integration enables airlines to provide real-time access to their products and services, such as flight schedules, seat availability, and ancillary services such as baggage options and in-flight services.

• Personalization: NDC API integration enables airlines to customize their offerings to individual customers based on their preferences and behaviors. This can include personalized seat selection, meal options, and other value-added services.

• Improved distribution: NDC API integration allows airlines to distribute their products and services through a wider range of channels, such as online travel agencies (OTAs), metasearch engines, and other third-party providers.

• Ancillary revenue generation: NDC API integration enables airlines to offer and sell ancillary products and services such as preferred seating, extra baggage, and lounge access. This helps the airline generate additional revenue streams.

• Data management: Using the NDC API, airlines can collect and analyze customer data in real-time, which can help inform pricing strategies, marketing campaigns, and product development.

• Streamlined booking process: NDC API integration allows for a streamlined booking process with fewer manual interventions, which minimizes the chance of errors and improves operational efficiency.

What benefits does NDC provide?

NDC API Integration offers numerous advantages to the airline industry, including:

• Better customer experience: NDC API Integration enables airlines to offer customized and enhanced travel experiences to customers by providing more accurate and relevant data about flights, fares, and ancillary services.

• Increased revenue: With NDC API Integration, airlines can offer a wider range of ancillary services such as baggage fees, seat upgrades, and lounge access, increasing revenue and profitability.

• Better operational efficiency: NDC API Integration can help airlines simplify their booking and ticketing processes, reducing the time and effort required to manage booking and related tasks.

• Enhanced distribution: NDC API Integration provides airlines more control over their distribution channels, allowing them to reach and engage with customers more effectively through a variety of online and offline channels.

• Reduced distribution costs: NDC API Integration helps airlines to bypass conventional distribution channels, such as global distribution systems (GDSs), that can be costly, and instead connect with travel agents and other distribution partners.

• Competitive advantage: By integrating NDC APIs, airlines can differentiate themselves from competitors by providing more personalized and innovative travel experiences, that can help attract and retain customers.

• Personalized shopping experience and access to customer information: Currently, most of the customer personal data remains in the hands of middlemen, OTAs, and GDSs. This implies airlines get simply essential data about their customers, which doesn’t take into consideration customizing the shopping experience, which has gotten a standard in present-day travel eCommerce. The NDC’s standard will probably give airlines direct data about their clients.

• Content and pricing autonomy: Another benefit of personalization is valuing self-sufficiency. Currently, most airlines distribute their responsibilities through ATPCO, the technology supplier and primary source of the pricing information. Hosting a third get-together as a middle person between the revenue the board and circulation channels implies that airlines pass up on the chance of dynamic valuing. Dynamic valuing is the process to make customized admission and travel bundle offer dependent on singular customer data. The new XML standard allows airlines to create their APIs and change prices individually, enabling them to enhance their offers and change prices independently for each client.

• Rich content offers, ancillaries, and discounts: Distributing the flight data via GDS’s EDIFACT (Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce, and Transport), airlines are unable to include ancillaries in their offers. This outcome in financial losses for service suppliers as ancillaries are the main source of profits for carriers.

• Product differentiation: The GDS model just allows airlines to show prices and schedules. While tariff metasearch engines and OTAs make it simple for travelers to think about estimating prices, airlines can’t showcase their added value services and fully compete. Rich content, that contains all service details, addresses this issue.

• Reduced reliance on legacy systems: Most airlines use legacy passenger service systems (PSS), that contain reservation information, fares, and flight schedules. The primary function of the PSS is to display which seats are available for a given flight. PSSs may have poor performance, and several other restrictions, and most PSS providers lag in modernization. NDC will operate independently of legacy systems, presenting data stored in PSS databases via airlines' private interfaces.

NDC Level 4 Capable IT Provider for Airlines

Trawex's NDC Level 4 Certification proves that it can provide 'Full Offer and Order Management'. This Level 4 NDC certification allows you to book NDC airline content and support changes in traveler NDC bookings.

Trawex is certified with NDC Capable Level 4 certification for its NDC-based solution and become NDC Level 4 Capable IT Provider for Airlines.

Trawex gains NDC Capable Level 4 certification and joins the NDC Registry, which lists all NDC-Certified or NDC-Capable companies as per the IATA Guide to the NDC.

Trawex is an NDC Level 4 Capable IT Provider with the capacity to offer 'Full Offer and Order Management'.

Using our NDC Level 4 Certification status, travel agencies can gain access to exclusive NDC Content, such as competitive flight fares from a wide range of airlines, as well as ancillaries such as seat upgrades, baggage, and onboard food, to improve traveler booking experiences and maximize flight bookings.

With this Level 4 Certification, travel agencies can gain access to exclusive NDC Content without charging extra GDS fees, as well as expand their airline content with the best flight fares and ancillaries to maximize flight ticket bookings and revenues.

Major airlines managed to develop their NDC solutions, that sometimes differ in implementation. Here are some examples of airlines that incorporated New Distribution Capabilities

Lufthansa was the first carrier to implement a GDS surcharge and direct booking connection in its distribution. Lufthansa's direct booking currently includes several distribution channels, including travel agencies direct, aggregators, a supplier mobile application, and a supplier website. While its NDC version allows for providing rich content, the support of personalized bookings is still to be reached.

British Airways created an NDC solution that was integrated with Kayak. Now their tickets are available instantly through the Kayak platform. British Airways API enables distribution via the following channels: direct connection via OTAs, IATA's travel agents, GDSs, and online booking tools. Similar to Lufthansa’s API, British Airways doesn’t support customized bookings yet.

Air Canada allows their API to be used easily across all channels. It seems that Air Canada presents the widest range of NDC “advantages” for the moment, providing rich content, personalized bookings, airline profiles, air, and non-air-related ancillaries.

Flydubai also has a competitive NDC implementation that is similar to what Air Canada offers. The only difference is that Flydubai only allows distribution through travel agencies and online travel agencies.

Everyone Wins: Customers, Travel Sellers, and Airlines

Since an API is the backbone of NDC’s communication model, NDC’s API offers numerous advantages to airlines and OTAs.

Software providers are required to implement NDC APIs to allow OTAs access to an airline’s entire product portfolio, including ancillaries, promotional fares, and other rich content. Airlines benefit from API integration as it allows them to distribute their entire portfolio and show their products in an appealing way via rich content and expand the amount of information available on each product.

Eventually, API integration provides customers with a comprehensive shopping experience. An enhanced shopping experience for customers that allows them to have flexible booking options can only positively impact profits.