TravTalk India Online Magazine
Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) has tied up with Airlines Technology by TWAI to offer the NDC technology to its members as part of its ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives’. The new offering is said to be affordable for the travel agent, with a substantial difference in price from other platforms.
Nisha Verma
Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, GPS, has revealed that they have tied up with TWAI to bring the NDC (New Distribution Capability) technology which, according to him, is the new solution and the new normal. “TWAI has almost 19 airlines on the leaderboard of IATA NDC, and we are going to target the 4000 IATA agents across India, and this technology will be useful to all. TWAI also has some additional products and we will be supporting them to put them forward to the Indian travel community,” he said.
Trideep Aggarwal, Co-Founder and Director, Airlines Technology by TWAI, shared that airlines have been pushing more for NDC for the last few years. “NDC allows airlines to distribute new things which they were not able to do earlier. Currently, there are about 19 airlines that are on our platform and by the end of the year, it will be closer to 23,” he added.
Simplifying the NDC technology, Aggarwal said, “NDC allows airlines to market additional products besides just an airline ticket, which can include lounge access, Wi-Fi prior to boarding the plane, better meals, extra luggage, etc. Customers want to buy many of these things prior to the trip and NDC allows airlines to sell these additional products, if the customer decides to buy them at the time of booking.”
Plan for India
Highlighting their plan for India, Aggarwal said that they have partnered with GPS to market to micro, small and mid-size agencies. “Our goal is to launch affordable products in India to be used by travel agents, giving them a better experience. Target-wise, we are hoping to market it to the GPS network and be able to have an adoption because the pricing and the target marketing has been done to suit micro to mid-size agencies,” he added.
Price model
Explaining the price model, Anand said, “One-time setup fee is around Rs 12,000, which is nothing if you have the system in place that is the API integration of the NDC. After that it will be a per passenger fee depending on the number of bookings one generates, which would be as low as Rs75 per booking. It’s a very nominal cost, which one pays when they use the system. In fact, till March 31, 2021, the first 300 bookings will be without any cost. Hence, if you look at the calculation, it gives you almost Rs 24,000 worth. Hence, with a substantial price difference, the agent can save anything from Rs 1000 per ticket to as much as Rs 20,000 per ticket.”
