Sabre Corporation, a leading provider of technology for the global travel industry, today announced the launch of its first set of NDC APIs (New Distribution Capabilities) with the airline United Airlines. Participating agencies of Saber’s Beyond NDC program are using these capabilities to enable live bookings via NDC and to provide customers with a more robust shopping experience.
Sabre launched search, reservation and fulfillment capabilities driven through NDC with United Airlines for flights through the airline’s global network. United is the first large airline to launch NDC capabilities in conjunction with Saber. Saber’s purchasing APIs integrate and normalize air content from all sources, including traditional distribution, low-cost airlines, and NDC offers.
This development is a significant step forward for the travel industry, as it advances a unifying vision of the industry and makes NDC a closer reality for travelers, airlines, agencies, corporations and more. Saber’s NDC solutions allow United to offer new fare options with additional flight services to provide a more complete shopping experience for customers who choose to book through Sabre.
“At United, we’re excited to be the first airline to partner with Saber to offer NDC capabilities through its booking platform as a way to advance the travel industry,” said Dave Bartels, vice president of revenue management at United Airlines. “We strive to provide the best experience to our customers at every step of the process of their trips, including when they look for flights. Working with Saber to improve the reservation process is another way in which we can improve our clients’ experience”.
“Sabre remains committed to launching scale-based offerings powered by NDC that sustain end-to-end work processes and content integration,” says Kathy Morgan, vice president of NDC for Saber. “This new NDC world that we are making reality requires close collaboration and a shared vision with entities from every corner of the industry. Working together with United and all members of our Beyond NDC program to provide integrated NDC content solutions is the result of the great collaboration we have led in the last 18 months and of which we are very proud. ”
Sabre is working diligently with member airlines of the Beyond NDC program to integrate NDC content this year. It will also launch additional capabilities throughout 2019, including integration into its work area for travel agents, Saber Red 360. As part of its development plan, Saber takes into consideration the needs of the multiple actors of the travel ecosystem, including airlines, agencies, corporations and travelers. Sabre’s holistic approach goes beyond the time of purchase and includes important agency processes, such as billing and itinerary activities, accounting and administrative processes, and care considerations.
“NDC is an important component of a broad evolution in the distribution of air content. Testing of purchasing APIs driven by NDC by Saber in conjunction with United to find new ways to provide incremental value to customers while maintaining or improving full process capabilities is critical in preparing for a future of success, “says John Bukowski, distribution director of American Express Global Business Travel. “Access to NDC content, along with the rest of the new or existing content, would allow us to scale up what we offer to travelers. Modern business travelers have specific expectations: they want access to all the content and want to know that they are getting the best personalized rates and being served in an omni-channel environment. This is why our collaboration with Saber and United, which focuses entirely on the generation of value, is so important when it comes to advancing the industry”.