What is NDC? Explained for travel agencies
NDC (New Distribution Capability) is IATA's standard for airlines to sell their own offers to travel agencies. Instead of the GDS building a fare from what the airline filed, the airline builds the offer itself, with its own bundles, seats and bags, and sends it to you in real time. You reach NDC through your GDS, through an NDC aggregator or through the airline's own portal, and some airlines charge extra when you book the old way.
What is NDC?
IATA describes NDC as "a data exchange format based on Offer and Order management processes for airlines", and as "a travel industry-supported program (NDC Program) launched by IATA" (IATA). The programme's foundation is IATA Resolution 787, from October 2012.
For an agent, the change is who builds the offer:
- Classic GDS content: the airline files fares and availability, and the GDS combines them into what you see in the terminal.
- NDC content: the airline answers your search itself, through its own API, and decides which fares, bundles and extras to show.
"NDC is delivered via APIs", as Travelport puts it (Travelport, 13 October 2025). Each airline has its own, and your GDS or an aggregator connects them for you.
Why are airlines pushing NDC?
Two reasons: control and cost.
- Control. With NDC the airline chooses the offer: fare bundles, seats, bags and prices it may not file in the GDS at all. Some fares are only in NDC or on the airline's website, so a client may find a lower price online than your terminal shows.
- Cost. Airlines pay GDS fees on every booking, and some pass them on. Since 5 May 2026 Lufthansa Group charges $22 (€19) per ticket booked through Amadeus, while its NDC Partner Program "offers a significantly lower fee" (Travel Market Report, 6 April 2026).
How is NDC different from GDS fares for an agent?
| Classic GDS content | NDC content | |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds the offer | The GDS, from fares the airline filed | The airline, in real time |
| Fares | Published, private and negotiated fares | The airline's own bundles, and fares that may not be in the GDS |
| Seats and bags | Often added afterwards, or through the airline | Part of the offer, sold with it |
| Changes and cancellations | The usual GDS entries | Through the NDC order. In Amadeus Selling Platform Connect you can change or cancel, and airline schedule changes still arrive in the queue |
| Where you book it | The terminal or the GDS APIs | The GDS's newer screens, an aggregator's portal or API, or the airline's portal |
The Selling Platform Connect detail is from Amadeus (17 October 2019). Your GDS's own help pages describe what your terminal does with NDC today.
How does a travel agency get NDC content?
Three ways:
- Through your GDS. Amadeus shows NDC next to classic content in Selling Platform Connect, Sabre in Sabre Red 360 and its Offer and Order APIs, Travelport through Travelport+. You keep one terminal and one contract.
- Through an NDC aggregator. One connection to many airlines' NDC and low-cost content. AirGateway, for example, offers "35+ NDC and low-cost airlines", with bookings made "under your IATA/PCC, and recorded in your BSP" (AirGateway).
- Through the airline. Some airlines run their own agency portal or partner programme, such as Lufthansa Group's NDC Partner Program.
How the providers compare, GDSs, Duffel, aggregators and consolidators side by side: Amadeus vs Sabre vs Travelport vs Duffel for travel agencies.
Why don't you see NDC fares yet?
Usually one of three reasons:
- NDC isn't enabled for your office. In Amadeus it is set per office: an office without it only gets classic content, even when the airline is live in NDC.
- The airline isn't live in NDC on your GDS, or not in your market. Airlines go live market by market.
- The airline wants an agreement first. When Air France-KLM brought its NDC content to Travelport, it said "agents that sign an access agreement with Air France-KLM will be able to access its NDC content" (Travolution, 3 December 2021).
The quickest check: ask your GDS account manager which NDC airlines your office has, and what each airline asks of your agency. The other reasons a fare shows in one system and not another, with a table of who sells where: Why does a flight show in one GDS but not another?
Can AI search NDC fares?
Yes, when the AI is connected to a source that has them. GateRoam connects Claude, ChatGPT or any MCP client to your agency's own Amadeus contract, so you search, price and send client offers from one chat. It searches Amadeus NDC fares next to classic GDS fares, on the same Amadeus keys, once Amadeus has enabled NDC for your office. NDC from other sources, such as aggregators, will follow. Connect your AI.
New to this? Read Is there an Amadeus MCP server?, or start free. GateRoam is free during early access.
Sources
Checked on 9 October 2026.
- IATA: NDC and Resolution 787
- Travelport: how NDC works, 13 October 2025
- Travel Market Report: Lufthansa Group distribution cost charge, 6 April 2026
- Amadeus: NDC in Selling Platform Connect, 17 October 2019
- Sabre: NDC in Sabre Red 360 and the Offer and Order APIs, March 2025
- AirGateway: NDC for agencies
- Travolution: Air France-KLM NDC content on Travelport, 3 December 2021
Frequently asked questions
