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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched NDC Matchmaker, a free web-based tool that lets airlines, travel sellers and content aggregators (such as global distribution systems) to search, compare and connect with NDC partners

Matchmaker brings “more visibility to travel distribution stakeholders that are collaborating on implementations of the New Distribution Capability (NDC)”, IATA says.

“It increases transparency of their NDC capabilities and facilitates cooperation among different participants in the travel value chain that are engaged in their own journeys to airline industry retailing.”

At the Global Business Travel Association 2019 Convention in Chicago, which concluded yesterday, IATA’s director of industry distribution programs, Yanik Hoyles, said NDC Matchmaker responded to corporate travel buyers’ need to have greater insight into airlines, travel sellers and aggregators participating in the NDC space.

“It is also about companies being able to be showcased through a user-friendly tool,” Hoyles added

The concept was put forward by IATA’s Travel Manager Advisory Group (TMAG), which consists of key corporate travel managers and procurement professionals in Europe and North America who meet regularly to address the challenges and benefits of NDC for corporate travel buyers.

“The NDC Matchmaker will bring greater transparency to the marketplace and will help corporate buyers to understand which airlines are offering NDC content through their partners,” said Claudia Adams, chair of the European TMAG.

The NDC Matchmaker already includes more than 80 NDC connections between airlines and their travel seller partners. Participants can display their NDC content and partnerships and be searched by category as airlines/sellers/aggregators; by type of products and services available; or by country.

“The more companies that use it, the more benefits it will create for the travel value chain,” Hoyles said.

Edited by Peter Needham