Travelport, a technology company that powers bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel suppliers, has signed a multi-year distribution agreement with Riyadh Air, the newly established Saudi Arabian national carrier wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The agreement will enable Riyadh Air to distribute its content, including NDC and traditional fares, through Travelport’s wide-reaching marketplace. As a digitally native airline, Riyadh Air has selected Travelport to support its modern retail strategy, with NDC technology as the primary integration and legacy content as a secondary option.
Through this agreement, Riyadh Air will gain access to Travelport’s worldwide network of travel agencies and corporate buyers, enabling the airline to deliver dynamic, personalized travel offers to customers. Travelport will integrate with Riyadh Air’s Offer and Order host system to ensure enhanced connectivity and enriched retailing capabilities.
Vincent Coste, Chief Commercial Officer at Riyadh Air, said: “Partnering with Travelport gives us the global reach, distribution power, and retailing capabilities needed to support our goal of flying to over 100 destinations by 2030. This partnership is not only about enabling seamless travel experiences, but also about contributing to the broader national vision of economic diversification.”
“We are delighted to partner with Riyadh Air as they embark on their journey to become a leading international airline,” said Damian Hickey, Global Head of Travel Partners at Travelport. “Riyadh Air represents a new generation of digitally native carriers, and our multi-source content approach will enable them to deliver personalized, retail-ready offers to travelers through our agency network. This partnership demonstrates our commitment to supporting innovative airlines as they modernize the travel experience.”
Riyadh Air is a cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, with ambitions to establish Riyadh as a world-renowned aviation hub and reach 100 destinations by 2030. The airline has placed over 180 aircraft orders and is positioning itself as a major player in the aviation world.
To help agencies compare NDC offers alongside traditional content, Travelport recently debuted its Content Curation Layer (CCL). Travelport’s CCL uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to aggregate multi-source content and return accurate, intuitive search results that are normalized and easier for agents and travelers to understand. This expertise will simplify the delivery of Riyadh Air’s retail-ready content to Travelport-connected agencies.
