Gulf Air gets level 4 NDC IATA certification

MANAMA: Bahrain’s national airline Gulf Air was recently certified with level 4 of the New Distribution Capability (NDC) certification from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The NDC Certification Program, the only official industry certification program in support of the NDC standard, is provided by IATA to airlines upon completing a set of requirements and achieving a number of 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 which 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 which 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. 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,” said Gulf Air’s Chief Commercial Officer Vincent Coste.

“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,” he added.