Air Canada and Amadeus Expand Strategic Partnership
As New Distribution Capability (NDC) technology continues to create new retailing opportunities for airlines around the world, Air Canada and Amadeus have expanded their long-standing partnership.
Air Canada will use Altéa NDC, an Amadeus IT solution that enables airlines to deliver superior travel retail experiences by providing personalised and customised offers, to make its complete range of NDC-sourced content accessible through the Amadeus Travel Platform. Additionally, organisations and travel sellers using the Amadeus Travel Platform will have access to the airline's conventionally sourced material (EDIFACT) globally.
“Amadeus and Air Canada have a long-standing history of partnering to improve the travel experience and empower travel sellers. We’re proud to take this significant next step by offering our NDC content for the first time through a GDS. Now Agencies and Travel Buyers will have access to our most complete range of content and be well-equipped for the introduction of new products and capabilities,” said Mark Nasr, Senior Vice President, Products, Marketing & eCommerce at Air Canada. “For buyers and travellers, this means their preferred agency, whether a local independent or large travel management provider, will be able to offer a broader range of rich Air Canada content, travel options and services via the Amadeus Travel Platform at the most competitive prices.”
Air Canada will profit from having a single passenger name record (PNR) for managing the whole passenger experience as an Amadeus Altéa customer for its passenger service system. Increased productivity and seamless integration of Altéa NDC with the Amadeus Travel Platform are further benefits that let travel vendors easily browse, reserve, and manage NDC-sourced travel material.
“We’re pleased to build on our strategic partnership with Air Canada, providing the airline technology to manage distribution of its NDC content with full integration through the Amadeus Travel Platform,” said Rajiv Rajian, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Americas, Amadeus. “It is important to us that our travel seller customers have choice and access to the best offers via the Amadeus Travel Platform. With our expanded partnership, Air Canada will have the capabilities to distribute tailored and enriched offers and will provide Amadeus travel seller customers with its full range of NDC content.”
These developments strengthen an effective collaboration between the two businesses. In the past ten years, Amadeus and Air Canada have collaborated to launch a cutting-edge reservation system, new and improved website and mobile app functionalities, an industry-leading loyalty shopping and redemption experience, and increased connectivity to dozens of partner airlines around the globe.