Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has achieved NDC Level 4 certification from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The Level 4 certification will empower the airline to provide the full extent of its offer, as well as order management and servicing capabilities, to its direct and indirect distribution channels across the globe. Gulf Air has partnered with IT provider and aggregator TPConnects as its technology partner to develop the NDC-enabled distribution platform.
In a challenging operating environment brought on by the Covid-19 crisis, this timely announcement is said to mark “a significant milestone” for the airline as it explores cost saving and increased revenue-generating measures and seeks to leverage opportunities for top-line growth and bottom-line benefits.
On the occasion of receiving the NDC Level 4 official certification, Gulf Air chief commercial officer Vincent Coste said: “As part of our digital transformation, our focus continues to be on driving innovation and strengthening the value proposition through this downturn. With IATA’s NDC Level 4 certification, we are well-poised to improve the retailing and servicing experience across our global multi-channel distribution network, underpinned by a customer-centric approach.
“Apart from the anticipated cost savings, it will also give us the flexibility to create and fully control our inventory and content distribution across the various channels, providing easy access to rich content and differentiated, personalised and dynamic offers”.
Commenting on the announcement, TPConnects CEO Rajendran Vellapalath noted: “As Gulf Air’s technology partner, we are committed to supporting the airline in an ever-changing landscape as it focuses on long-term growth and sustainability. Our NDC-based technology will enable Gulf Air to tap into revenue opportunities and reduce costs associated with distribution, while increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction. Under this partnership, we have plans in place to roll out Gulf Air’s NDC-enabled platform and deliver Live NDC transactions.”
At a time where agility and personalisation are paramount, Gulf Air believes the Level 4 NDC certification will help it to provide “greater transparency, accelerate the speed of communication, swiftly address servicing requirements and serve a wide range of business needs with exclusive rich content and real-time combinations of products and merchandising across [our] channels.”
Travel and corporate partners who wish to access Gulf Air’s NDC content will be able to register their interest at https://ndc.gulfair.com in the coming few weeks.
In 2019, Gulf Air unveiled its new brand identity and aircraft cabins when the first of its 16 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners touched down at the company’s home base in Bahrain.
