WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Delta expects to begin testing its first New Distribution Capability (NDC) iteration with select partners late this year, said Sara Reid, the airline's managing director of sales technology and global sales support.
Speaking Wednesday on a panel at the Elevate + TravelConnect conference jointly hosted by ARC and ATPCO, Reid also said that Delta has no plans to implement a GDS surcharge or to prematurely remove content from systems using legacy Edifact technology.
"Our distribution strategy has not changed," Reid said. "We want to elevate the entire corporate travel ecosystem."
Reid said Delta has begun speaking with travel agencies, OTAs, GDSs and corporate clients to thoroughly understand their needs and challenges. Delta's intent, Reid said, is to implement an NDC solution only when the airline is ready to provide thorough servicing capabilities.
"We believe that if this journey is done right, servicing will be better than it is in the Edifact world," she said.
Delta has been the slowest of the three network U.S. airlines to move forward with NDC adoption, trailing American and United. In promising to unveil an NDC solution only when it has a complete set of servicing capabilities, Delta seeks to assuage concerns of travel advisors, who have been reporting challenges servicing NDC-enabled airline tickets.
Notably, ASTA has been pushing back against American's NDC booking strategy since it was implemented a year ago.
In December, ASTA listed several problems, including an inability to hold a booking; an inability to book air, car and hotel at the same time during the booking flow (the air booking must be completed first, ASTA claimed); no virtual payment capability; and the inability to support rules or custom fields, which is important for agencies that manage corporate accounts.
In addition, Delta would continue to differentiate itself from United and American (especially American) by not pulling content from legacy GDSs until the agency community is ready.
Reid, though, did say that Delta has reached the limit of its merchandising capabilities using Edifact technology. Further evolving its fare product offerings within agency channels will require an evolution to NDC.
She said the airline will announce its NDC design partners next week.