Verteil Technologies taps into British Airways’s NDC channel for ‘Direct Connect’ bookings

Monday, January 15, 2018

Verteil Technologies has announced the first-ever direct connect booking using IATA’s NDC standard on British Airways in India using thedirect connect platform, Verteil Direct Connect (VDC). On 08 Dec 2017, the partner agency, Magellan Travels, an IATA accredited travel agent based out of Chennai issued a Chennai – London ticket on British Airways directly connecting to the airline using the Verteil Direct Connect (VDC) technology platform and thereby becoming the first travel agency in India to take advantage of the offers coming directly from British Airways. It is claimed to be the first live IATA NDC transaction from India.

“Verteil Technologies is delighted to pioneer the direct connect distribution model in the Indian market, providing travel agents with unique and differentiated offers via a completely new generation technology platform. With the successful go-live in British Airway’s NDC channel, Verteil is all set to be standard for driving adoption of direct connect NDC based solution to the Indian market as we expand to on-board all the member agents of IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) and beyond” said Jerrin Jos, Founder & CEO, Verteil Technologies.

IAAI, one of the major IATA Travel Agency consortiums having around 1400 agency members pan India, has recently signed a contract with Verteil Technologies to leverage its direct connect platform for their member agencies to connect directly with airlines. Verteil is currently in the process of on-boarding these agents to migrate a significant volume of indirect airline sales in India to its direct connect platform.

“We are delighted to have our partner agency, Magellan Travels to be the very first IATA agency in India to issue a standalone ticket using the NDC direct connect technology implemented by Verteil Technologies. IAAI is fully committed to doing business in the direct connect channel with our technology partner Verteil Technologies. Verteil’s technology platform is fully integrated with the in-house enterprise booking tool iTop which allows all its member agencies to seamlessly buy any travel related products. Congratulations to our friends at Verteil on making history” said Biji Eapen, President of IAAI (IATA Agents Association of India).

Full service carriers worldwide have been a big proponent and supporter of the NDC standard. As of today, there are 45 major full service carriers who are certified on the NDC standard. Some of them include, British Airways, Emirates, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, American Airlines and many more. IATA expects about 120 airlines to be certified before 2020.

Airlines like British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France etc. have already launched additional fees for any bookings made through legacy indirect distribution channels which are used by most of the travel agencies today. These fees are completely waived off for tickets booked via an NDC direct connect channel like Verteil Direct Connect. With IAAI’s exclusive partnership with Verteil Technologies, travellers booking BA tickets with any IAAI IATA agent pan India will not incur this additional fee.

“It is indeed a proud moment for all of us at Magellan Travels to be the first IATA Agency in India to issue a ticket on the NDC channel of BA enabled by Verteil Technologies direct connect platform, Verteil Direct Connect. The entire on-boarding process was quick and easy and the feedback provided was incorporated to my satisfaction. Offline Travel Agents now have a modern platform in Verteil Direct Connect that has easy to use workflows combined with visually rich content to allow the travel agent to clearly compare multiple offers from an airline which will help us serve our customers better. The best part of this new technology is that it circumvents the distribution fee imposed by different carriers around the world thus lowering the ticket prices. Congratulations to Verteil Technologies on this momentous occasion” said Faisal Sharhabeel, Director, Magellan Travels.

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