Lufthansa Group and Amadeus are expanding their partnership with the companies saying as of Q4 2022, Lufthansa Group airlines NDC-sourced content will be available via the Amadeus NDC-enabled interfaces – Amadeus Selling Platform Connect, Amadeus Travel API and Cytric Travel & Expense. This includes NDC offers from Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Air Dolomiti and Eurowings Discover, including continuous pricing and a wide range of ancillary services. Beyond NDC offers, travel sellers will continue having access to Lufthansa Group airlines content through existing EDIFACT technology.
“The Lufthansa Group remains fully committed to shaping the aviation industry and modernising air travel experiences for our passengers,” said Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Chief Commercial Officer and Member of the Management Board of SWISS. “I am excited that with the signing of this groundbreaking distribution agreement, which also enables the introduction of two NDC models, we continue on our path to modernize airline retailing together with our long-term partner Amadeus. Together, as industry leaders, we will substantially accelerate the penetration of modern industry standards such as NDC on a global scale.”
“The reach, scale and sophisticated retailing capabilities of our NDC-enabled solutions will help Lufthansa Group and Amadeus travel sellers better serve their customers with more relevant offerings,” said Decius Valmorbida, President of Travel at Amadeus. “This agreement comes at a time when NDC and the move towards travel retailing is evolving rapidly, and we believe such traveler-centric partnerships will be critical to the sustainable growth of our industry.”
Lufthansa Group and Amadeus are working to integrate the airlines’ NDC offers into the Amadeus Travel Platform targeting a gradual global roll-out in Q4 2022 onwards, commencing in selected European markets, and thus enable shopping, booking, payment and servicing in a solution that is fully integrated into the Amadeus ecosystem. In the following months, the range of content and functionalities will be continuously expanded.
Lufthansa Cargo preparing to go live on CargoAi
Lufthansa Cargo is launching a pilot in three countries, in preparation for going live worldwide on CargoAi. It will be the first CargoAi customer to make use of the instant rate offer and booking confirmation. Marketplace users in The Netherlands, Italy, and Spain have access to routings and capacity information on all Lufthansa Group airlines serving those countries. General and Express cargo can now be booked on Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels, Eurowings, or SunExpress.
This initial roll-out is a pilot that will run for the next two to three months, during which CargoAi and Lufthansa Cargo fine-tune their preparations for a global go-live, should the technical pilot run smoothly. Lufthansa will then benefit from an easy-to-use, customised e-booking system, allowing the carrier to optimise the efficiency of its forwarding process. It will also benefit from the promotion of its services to the more than 5,000 freight forwarders across 103 countries who regularly use CargoAi’s marketplace.
“We are honoured that Lufthansa Cargo, one of Europe’s largest air cargo carriers, has chosen to market its capacities on our platform,” says Matthieu Petot, CEO of CargoAi. “Lufthansa Cargo has often pioneered innovation in its long history and is again ahead of the digital curve with CargoAi. It is the first and only airline so far to enable forwarders to make use of our instant rate offer and booking confirmation functionalities.”