Delta and Virgin Atlantic are working in tandem on enhancing
the shopping experience across distribution channels with IATA's New
Distribution Capability as a "building block."
Virgin Atlantic has achieved Level 3 certification for NDC
18.1, the highest level available, and Delta is on track to do so next month,
Delta vice president of sales operations
and development Kristen Shovlin said. That will make them the first partnership
to reach that level together, according to IATA NDC program director Yanik
Hoyles.
"This is the beginning of what we look at as the
next-generation storefront," Shovlin said. "We're building around
what customers are looking for-- transparency and choice -- and through this
process, they will be able to get that wherever they want us to be."
Delta now will begin a pilot with corporate buyers, travel
management companies and other travel intermediaries, Shovlin said. Similarly,
Virgin Atlantic is "starting the journey" of pilots with corporate
buyers and TMCs after trialing a few projects on the leisure side, Virgin
Atlantic vice president of sales Emma Jones said.
Cooperation is likely to extend further as Delta, Virgin
Atlantic and Air France-KLM move forward on their consolidated joint venture,
which is expected to achieve regulatory approval in the middle of next year.
Virgin Atlantic "fully intends to work with Air France-KLM" once
those approvals are in place, Virgin Atlantic manager of distribution product
Andy Hall said.
For Delta, the NDC cooperation is just another example of
its strategy of "global coordination worldwide," Shovlin said.
Similarly, Delta on Monday announced that in the fourth quarter of this year,
it will extend its Global Corporate Priority benefits to Air France-KLM
corporate travelers, as well as to its own passengers on Air France-KLM
flights.
In the meantime, the NDC project is only one part of an
overall distribution strategy for Delta, managing director of distribution
strategy Jeff Lobl said. That also includes the carrier's recent signing as an
SAP Concur TripLink airline partner.
"We're very supportive of NDC, but we're pushing for
more retail transformation, where GDSs will provide greater connectivity and
agencies will provide greater choice to customers. We have a growing
partnership of people we are working with on that," Lobl said.
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Source: Business Travel News