Almost two thirds of global tickets sales are made via travel agents, online travel agencies and travel management companies rather than the airlines themselves.
While many airline websites can show customers content such as no-frills or bundled offers, travel agents cannot access the same information and services in most cases because of outdated software that uses a computer language developed 40 years ago.
In many cases, passengers have no way of comparing different packages, meal prices or the size of seats. An enhanced web platform could be widely available within two years if the world's airlines prevail, with a pilot demonstration with real transactions planned for October 2013 in Dublin at the World Passenger Summit.
The New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard aims to give consumers the same online experience regardless of how or where they do their travel shopping.
Members of IATA, the world airline industry organization, met in Cape Town this week, viewed a demonstration of the new standard and passed a resolution approving it.
"Airlines offer a rich customer-centric shopping experience on their own websites and we want travel agents to have similar capabilities," said Eric Leopold, a senior IATA official.
Source: Reuters
