Gulf Air certified IATA NDC Level 4

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Gulf Air, Bahrain's national carrier, has been certified with level 4 of the New Distribution Capability (NDC) certification from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The NDC Certification Programme, the only official industry certification programme in support of the NDC standard, is provided by IATA to airlines upon completing a set of requirements and achieving several deliverables.

NDC is a key transformation project, launched by IATA to modernize airline distribution. The NDC Standard enhances the capability of communications between airlines and travel agents by enabling an airline to make sales offers directly in real-time that will also permit airlines to define and price their products in multiple ways.

It enables travel agents across the globe to access Gulf Air content such as images of the aircraft cabin, a list of ancillary products and a list of add-on services that were only available on the airline’s website before NDC activation.

“As part of our digital transformation, our focus continues to be on driving innovation and strengthening the value proposition through this downturn," Gulf Air’s Chief Commercial Officer Vincent Coste said on receiving the NDC Level 4 official certification.

"With IATA’s NDC Level 4 certification, we are well-poised to improve the retailing and servicing experience across our global multi-channel distribution network, underpinned by a customer-centric approach. Apart from the anticipated cost savings, it will also give us the flexibility to create and fully control our inventory and content distribution across channels - from Online Travel Agencies, travel agents and Travel Management Companies (TMC) - providing easy access to rich content and differentiated, personalized and dynamic offers."

Gulf Air’s Offer and Order Management solution is being powered by TPConnects, a technology company in the Middle East and is based on Level 4 NDC Schema 18.2, which will enable Gulf Air to introduce the content on NDC channels.

The travel community is evolving to adapt to new consumer needs, thanks to opportunities brought by modern technologies. Gulf Air has invested in NDC enabled Offer and Order Management and Distribution through TPConnects and is geared up to meet the needs of travel partners and corporate customers to satisfy the changing expectations of how they can shop, book and pay.

“Congratulations to Gulf Air on achieving Level 4 NDC Certification, an important step on its journey to airline retailing, which will deliver a superior experience for its customers with richer content and increased transparency across all its distribution channels,” Kamil Alawadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice President Africa & the Middle East, said.