Turkish Airlines and Travelport agree long-term partnership: NDC content coming to Travelport Plus
Agencies using Travelport's systems will soon have access to exclusive fares from the Turkish carrier. In addition, they will receive lower fees and advanced tools for selling ancillary services.
Over three decades of partnership in a new technological guise
Turkish national carrier Turkish Airlines and global Travel tech Travelport has extended its collaboration, which began back in 1993. The new multi-year contract brings a key change for the distribution channel – the introduction of **New Distribution Capability (NDC)** is a travel industry-supported program (NDC) that enables the travel industry to develop new, XML-based data standards. This will allow for the communication of fare and ancillary information between airlines and travel agents. The goal of NDC is to provide richer content to consumers and to enable airlines to better differentiate their offerings. Through the upgraded Travelport Plus platform, travel agencies will get direct access to offers. Previously, these offers were often exclusively reserved for the airline's direct channels.
The aim of this partnership is to simplify the sales process. Furthermore, the aim is to enable agencies to offer a personalised service to their clients. In addition to access to specific NDC fares, the agreement also provides for the introduction of rich visual content and advanced capabilities for Merchandising. This means that agents will be able to offer and sell additional services from the Turkish carrier more transparently. For example, this includes seat selection, baggage and other amenities.
Integration through Smartpoint and TripServices API
Although the contract has been officially signed, the transition to “live” operations and full NDC implementation is expected in the next phase of the project. Once the system becomes active, content will be available through two key Travelport channels: the traditional Smartpoint application and TripServices, a modern API cloud platform.
Travelport highlights that regardless of the chosen channel, agents will receive a standardised and refined data display. This should eliminate common technical complications when comparing different content sources. Of particular importance to agencies is the information that the new agreement brings reduced surcharges for NDC transactions. This directly impacts price competitiveness in the market.
Cem Tanburacı of Turkish Airlines and Damian Hickey of Travelport have confirmed that this is a logical step in the evolution of their 30-year relationship. Furthermore, this step is aimed towards a more modern, retail model of selling airline tickets.
