Finnair will end support for all legacy Edifact content across the travel sector by end of 2025. According to a report in Breaking Travel News, the airline said it aimed to drive a major change within the industry and boost further customer choice through New Distribution Capability (NDC).
NDC is the new travel standard being adopted by the travel industry which enables airlines to offer more personalized products than traditional distribution channels through enhanced available content.
In a move to ramp up the pressure for change, Finnair is introducing the latest stage of its strategic goal towards modernized distribution starting July next year in the European market.
The Finnish flag carrier says the financial crisis caused by the impact of Covid-19 travel restrictions across the aviation sector has spurred on their determination to incentivise the sector to deliver real choice for customers.
Mikko Turtiainen, Finnair vice president of global sales, said: “Finnair is determined to drive further customer choice within the market through NDC’s enhanced capabilities.
“We can’t be afraid of change – we need to embrace it – and, if necessary, use a carrot and stick approach through NDC-exclusive content and surcharges to ensure we phase out Edifact by end of 2025 at the latest.
“Now is the time to ensure we bring about meaningful change to a sector which has been slow to respond to changes in technology, we challenge all industry players to join in the transformation.”
The move will introduce more transparency into the purchasing process for customers booking through the travel trade and drive-up ancillaries to generate new streams of airline revenue, the carrier said.
The airline recently reported that it carried 266,500 passengers in August, representing an increase of over 38 per cent from August 2020 and one of almost 25 per cent from July 2021. The airline’s overall capacity surged by more than 63 per cent year-on-year and 17 per cent month-on-month when measured in available seat kms. Its passenger load factor, in turn, improved by 0.3 percentage points from the previous year to 42 per cent.
