Finnair is set to offer its customers more choice and a better travel experience. This is the main premise of the airline’s ambitious distribution strategy focused on driving widespread adoption of NDC. To support this goal, the carrier has extended its distribution agreement with Amadeus, strengthening further the partnership between both companies.
Finnair will begin distributing new NDC-sourced content to Amadeus’ global network of travel sellers and corporations later in Q3 2022. This is in addition to continuing the distribution of its EDIFACT-sourced content through Amadeus. This latest collaboration builds on the NDC distribution and IT agreement from 2019when Finnair was announced as the driver airline to integrate Altéa NDC with the Amadeus Travel Platform. Both companies have now agreed to continue working together to support Finnair’s NDC distribution strategy, further accelerating the industry’s retailing transformation.
NDC-sourced content from Finnair will be made available to travel sellers globally through the Amadeus Travel Platform later in Q3 2022. The content will be fully integrated into travel sellers’ usual booking environment, including Amadeus Selling Platform Connect, Amadeus Travel APIs and Amadeus Cytric Travel & Expense. This will enable them to easily search, shop, sell and service Finnair’s NDC-sourced content so that they can offer travelers more options to better serve their needs.
Jose-Luis Aragon, Regional Vice President, Air Distribution, Europe, Amadeus, said: “We are very pleased to strengthen our partnership with Finnair to support its digital transformation, in turn accelerating the industry’s journey to enhanced retailing. With global travel volumes increasing this summer season, it is important to rebuild and maintain traveler confidence. With new content powered by NDC, Finnair will be able to provide richer, more tailored offers to passengers.”
As part of its wider digital transformation strategy, Finnair is looking to effectively distribute all its content and fares through NDC by the end of 2025. Travel sellers must be able to meet the needs of today’s traveler – and NDC empowers them to deliver the same, modern shopping experience that they have come to expect in other parts of their lives.
Jenni Suomela, Vice President Channel management & Payments, Finnair said: “We are happy to extend our partnership with Amadeus to expand the reach of our offers and bring more choice to travelers. This important step supports the fast scaling of NDC, ultimately enabling us to better serve our customers. As travel volumes are increasing, it’s a great time for us to offer new tools to our partners in the global travel community.”
This milestone is a testament to Amadeus’ commitment to enable NDC-content globally and at scale for the benefit of all travel industry players. As of July 2022, 14,000+ travel sellers in 68 markets around the world already have access to NDC-enabled content through Amadeus.
