Travel Weekly finds it necessary to correct or clarify certain information reported in the article of May 13 headlined, "IATA is under fire for levels of input in creation of NDC."
1) The Distribution Data Exchange Working Group (DDXWG) currently consists of about 30 entities, but membership is not limited to that number and can fluctuate.
2) The DDXWG is made up of six task forces and two virtual task forces (the latter operate on an as-needed basis), not 45 working groups.
3) The DDXWG Steering Group (incorrectly identified as the Steering Committee in the article) presents its findings to the Passenger Distribution Group, which created the DDXWG. The article incorrectly reported that the DDXWG Steering Group reported its findings to IATA's Passenger and Airport Data Interchange Standards Board.
4) The DDXWG Steering Group, whose membership and powers were at the heart of the report, is not limited to setting meetings agendas. In fact, it has four primary responsibilities:
- To coordinate the work of the task forces.
- To resolve inconsistencies between the task forces.
- To pass information on to the PDG.
- To ensure that the DDXWG delivers business requirements according to the scope set by the Passenger Distribution Group.
5) A paraphrase within the article misrepresented a source's meaning when it stated that OpenAxis "determined" the governance for IATA's NDC. The intended meaning was that the membership of both bodies is restricted to airlines.