Air Canada will offer NDC content through Sabre in the coming weeks, according to an announcement that also provided information about a number of other distribution enhancements, including:

• Simplified distribution cost recovery: The DCR has been simplified to apply only to the lowest fares booked in each cabin.
• More generous refund capabilities: The airline will be doubling the risk-free refund period from 24 to 48 hours for bookings made using NDC, providing travel partners and customers with greater flexibility. Development of this feature is underway and will be available in the coming months.
• Continuous pricing and availability: Continuous availability is now live to all partners integrated with Air Canada NDC, offering greater access to best prices, and in late 2024, the airline will begin offering continuous pricing for better, more dynamic price points.
• Special benefits for corporate partners: NDC functionality creates additional ticketing flexibility for agency and corporate partners.

In the next 12 months, said the announcement, travel partners can also expect more new content and additional features from Air Canada that include: support for disrupted customers; new features for the handling of involuntary changes; the ability to apply unused tickets for future travel; and more payment options for international markets. Those will be followed by cancellation for any reason and carbon offset content, both of which are planned for rollout in early 2025.

Commenting on the one-year anniversary of the carrier’s NDC program, Mark Nasr, executive vice president, marketing and digital, said the airline is “incredibly grateful for the partnership from local independent agencies and larger corporate travel management companies who were, are and will always be crucial to Air Canada’s commercial success.”

Air Canada said that in the last 12 months it had: executed three new GDS distribution agreements that incorporate NDC support; developed more than 25 new features and capacities directly based on agency feedback; implemented NDC in eight different technology platforms, including Amadeus; had over 600 agencies actively using Air Canada NDC; hosted more than 100 partner meetings globally to engage with the agency/technology community; significantly expanded reach, enabling NDC in 20 different country points-of-sale, representing 96% of Air Canada’s global ticket volume, with plans to further expand this month; and reached 70% of all Air Canada bookings now using modern technologies.

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