BCD Travel partners with Lufthansa Group on NDC pilot

BCD will assess how clients might benefit from new distribution capability.

BCD Travel has announced a multi-year agreement with the Lufthansa Group airlines (Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS and Brussels Airlines) that will enable the travel management company to pilot booking the group’s content using NDC.

The pilot will allow BCD to assess how clients might benefit from key components of new distribution capability, or NDC, a technical standard created by the International Air Transport Association to give airlines updated ways to sell their offerings. BCD said it partnered with Lufthansa because of the airline group’s success in overcoming preliminary challenges with NDC over the last three years.

“The development of robust and scalable NDC schemas has been slow, but some have now become mature enough to warrant testing,” explained Rose Stratford, BCD’s executive vice president of Global Supplier Relations & Strategic Sourcing.

The agreement supports BCD’s multi-source strategy for enhancing the traveler experience while advancing booking, spend-management and security processes for corporate travel programs. Earlier this year, BCD entered into strategic NDC relationships with global distribution systems Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport.

“It’s important to us to look across the entire industry to find solutions for our clients,” said Thane Jackson, vice president of Global Distribution & Channel Strategy at BCD Travel. “That’s why we’re also working closely with GDSs on their evolving NDC solutions and look forward to being able to test them as they mature. Our aim is to provide a seamless customer experience that reinforces the value that TMCs provide for managed client programs.”

Ask how BCD Travel can help your corporate air program achieve its servicing, reporting and duty of care goals.

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