THE NDC seems to be
moving in the right
direction, as the travel
industry and GDS companies
have agreed to withdraw their
opposition to Resolution 787.
But what has made the travel
industry change tack?
Otto de Vries, ceo of Asata,
says four critical amendments
have been agreed on
regarding Iata’s application to
the US DOT to pass resolution
787. This has seen Open
Allies (all GDSs and 400-
odd industry stakeholders,
including the WTAAA) withdraw
their opposition.
1. Personal information
It has now been claried that
approval of Iata Resolution
787 does not constitute
approval of any agreement
among Iata member airlines
to require the disclosure by
any passenger of personal
information of any kind.
Otto says a major concern
was that travellers would
have to disclose personal
information, which could then
lead to certain customers not
being able to access all fares.
2. The NDC is voluntary
Approval of Iata Resolution
787 does not constitute
approval of any agreement
among Iata member airlines
to require the use of any
particular data transmission
standard(s).
In other words, nobody can
be forced to use the NDC,
says Otto.
3. Data ownership
This approval does not in
any way address the issue
of data ownership and
specically does not include
approval of Section 1.2.7
of Resolution 787 or of any
other reference to ownership
in the Resolution.
Otto says data ownership
was a major hurdle for travel
agents, as they are not
prepared to relinquish data
ownership. The travel agent
will continue to own their
clients’ data.
4. Compatibility
Any communications or
message standards or
protocols developed under
Resolution 787 shall be
open standards. This means
all communication should
be useable by distributors
of air transportation
and intermediaries in
the distribution of air
transportation, including CRSs
and other aggregators, on a
non-discriminatory basis.
Otto says this means that
communication will remain
unaffected, regardless of
which airline or GDS is being
used.
The above four amendments
are a step in the right
direction, Otto believes. He
adds, however, that agreement
on the above-mentioned
amendments in no way
represents an endorsement
of the NDC by the GDSs or by
Open Allies as a group. “This
has merely opened the door
to further discussions.”
To facilitate further
discussions on the NDC,
the Airline Distribution
Stakeholder Forum
(ADSF) was created. It will
allow industry players to
exchange information in a
collaborative manner on
technical standards and
regulatory policy. The industry
organisations taking part in
the ADSF are: ASTA, ECTAA,
ETTSA, GBTA, Iata, Open
Allies, Travel Tech and WTAAA
(represented by ACTA, AFTA,
ABAV, and Asata).
