Singapore Airlines and Travelport welcome the first passengers through NDC

Travelport and Singapore Airlines have welcomed on board their first passengers whose tickets were booked using NDC technology. Star Cruise Travel Services, one of Travelport’s partner agencies for the implementation of NDC capability, made the NDC bookings through Smartpoint, Travelport’s agency desktop solution. The passengers took international flights, arriving into Singapore Changi Airport in early November 2020.

“This is an important milestone for our industry and our partnership with Singapore Airlines as they work to leverage IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC).” Said Kyle Moore, Head of Customer Strategy at Travelport. “We are grateful to our partner agencies for working with us as we bring this new technology to our customers.”

“Singapore Airlines is pleased to be working closely with Travelport on our KrisConnect program. By leveraging new technology, SIA and our partners can better meet the evolving expectations of our customers. Expectations about how, where and when they can access information, their ability to quickly and efficiently execute desired actions, and the demand for greater personalization, are all influenced by their experience with companies beyond the travel sector. The KrisConnect Program, and the technology upon which it sits, is key to meeting those expectations, and SIA is pleased to be leading the change in Asia. This milestone achievement with Travelport is critical in ensuring the program’s success.” said Mr Bryan Koh, Divisional Vice President E-Commerce and Distribution, Singapore Airlines.

“NDC Booking is made easy via Travelport Smartpoint. We are now able to access more content and offers, all in a single workflow, maintaining our efficiency.” Said Lynn Ong, Assistant Vice President, Star Cruise Travel Services.

ATPI International Board Director Peter Muller commented, “We are very excited to partner with Travelport and Singapore Airlines and have commenced booking NDC content through this ground-breaking initiative. The ability to provide new and varied content to our customers is an important part of the TMC service offering and ensures that we remain at the cutting edge of developments in the travel industry.”

Since KrisConnect was first launched in late 2018, Travelport has been working to improve how NDC content is integrated into the agent workflow. Agencies connecting to KrisConnect through Travelport have access to customized offerings that are tailored to traveler needs and preferences. SIA has advised that they will also benefit from a wider range of fares and other content.

As part of Travelport’s program of continuous improvements to the NDC booking process, using this functionality agents can manage NDC ticket exchanges, essential for efficient handling of customer servicing needs. With the addition of this key servicing feature Travelport will continue the roll out of its NDC capability to agencies signed up to KrisConnect.

NDC is a critical part of Travelport’s multisource content strategy. This latest milestone builds on Travelport’s leading momentum in rolling out NDC capabilities for the industry. Travelport was the first GDS to make a live NDC booking in October 2018 and is already connected to a number of airlines’ NDC content.