Singapore Airlines and Air France-KLM to Launch CWT's NDC Pilot Program

(22 July 2022, 10:48 +07)  CWT is taking another step towards making wide-scale NDC adoption a reality, with a pilot program that will see its travel counselors making live NDC bookings for customers via its global distribution technology partners.

CWT will commence booking and servicing NDC-enabled content on Singapore Airlines and Air France-KLM, through the Amadeus Travel Platform, in August.

In addition to corporate negotiated rates, the pilot covers certain unique NDC-enabled content on those two airlines.

Singapore Airlines A380 and B777 at SIN. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

For Singapore Airlines, this will initially include special discounted fares, while additional amenities like paid seats and extra baggage will be added to the program at a later date.

With Air France-KLM, CWT's customers will be able to access the airline's continuous pricing offers, while seat bundles and sustainable aviation fuel options will be introduced in the future.

“This represents another big step in taking the promise of NDC from theory to practice,” said Erik Magnuson, CWT’s Vice President of Product Management, Travel Content & Connectivity. “Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, we have worked closely with our airline and technology partners to innovate and advance key NDC initiatives over the past two and a half years, and we continue to do so. There is still some way to go before NDC can be adopted at scale and its full potential is realized, but we are excited to be at the forefront of this transformation. Our customers are already beginning to reap some of the benefits, while still keeping their core travel program priorities intact.”

CWT plans to expand the pilot through 2022 to include other airlines on both the Amadeus and Sabre platforms.

See also: Future of Airline Distribution and NDC - Exclusive HD Video Interview with Yanik Hoyles, IATA.

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