Even as the International Air Transport Association's New Distribution Capability has barely taken flight, the organization has stepped up the push for its next initiative, One Order.
Global distribution system providers and other industry insiders clearly have contemplated this move as the future of NDC. Sabre VP of NDC Kathy Morgan spoke of her company's vision of travel bookings as "orders" rather than passenger name records. Farelogix president and CEO Jim Davidson talked about transforming the PNR into an order and an order into a PNR. The language of the industry already is focusing on the concept.
According to IATA, One Order eventually will erase the need for multiple reservation records—
e-ticket numbers, airline reference numbers and GDS reference numbers, for example—merging them into a single ticket format. That reference number then can be used across the distribution chain, making servicing the traveler easier across any point in the journey. "When we moved to electronic tickets, we moved a paper process to an electronic format, and it was more about automating the complexity than reengineering the process," said Sebastien Touraine, who heads the initiative for IATA. "[One Order] is moving the industry to go to a standardized retailing solution, moving away from the idea of a paper-based ticket."
As that is a massive undertaking, it naturally will be done in steps, Touraine said. So far, there have been a few pilot programs, including one with Amadeus and British Airways last year. Next year likely will see some system providers certified for One Order, and airlines will begin pioneering programs over the next few years. "The standard is there, and the pilots have proven it is feasible," Touraine said. "Now, it's more of a question of implementing."
Slow down to go faster?
Pass Consulting CEO Michael Strauss—whose company provides technology, integration and tools for participants across the managed travel chain—warns that NDC and One Order may need to slow down and consider what will really provide air travel distribution, and other travel product distribution, a path to the future. "It's not XML," he lamented about the NDC standard, which uses technology that is already a dozen years old. The sentiment echoed a blog post of his from late last year, which said: "Developers today prefer JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) and rapid API development and run when they hear XML. Hence, an argument can be made that [NDC] is not so ‘new' after all."
Strauss also criticized the numerous versions of NDC that IATA has rolled out and urged the organization to consider its next steps more carefully, including how the organization engages the industry around One Order. "There's a real question of how well [IATA] will do it," he said. "If it's the same as NDC, it's going to be a long run for everyone and maybe a failure."
Even with his skepticism, Strauss was keen to see a future untethered to the PNR. But, he said, it would take a lot of collaboration, a willingness to shift value along the chain and a focus on new technologies that will ensure transparency. "We need to think new about using a blockchain or something to store the data and allow everyone access," he said. "We don't want to be 10 or 15 years behind."
SAP Concur supplier and travel management company services EVP Mike Koetting agreed, particularly with Strauss' call for more collaboration rather than everyone grabbing for their territory. "I genuinely think that the industry realigning its mission to embrace this broader purpose—of helping clients manage all spend and helping all travelers regardless of where that travel was purchased—will ultimately secure the long-term success and survival of travel intermediaries," he said. "Embracing this mission would require the collaboration of suppliers, TMCs and their technology partners and GDSs."
What's the role of the travel manager, you ask? "That technical collaboration to expand corporate travel management and the legacy GDS PNR infrastructure to accommodate that kind of service is only possible when clients and travel managers demand it and demonstrate a willingness to compensate for it," Koetting said. "Unless a a collection of influential, large companies and their travel managers insist on and select suppliers and partners who embrace this broader vision, the constraints of existing legacy architecture will continue."
–Additional reporting by Michael B. Baker