Qatar Airways is the first airline in Middle East and Africa to achieve IATA NDC Level 3 Certification

December 7, 2017: Doha- based Qatar Airways has recently achieved the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) NDC Level 3 Certification. The certification was issued after Qatar demonstrated its use of the latest technological standards in providing information on airfares and other services to customers and agents or another third party, said a release from the company.

The certification is a significant achievement, as Qatar Airways is the first airline in the Africa and Middle East region and second globally to implement the latest version of the standard. It shows that the carrier is committed to improving the experience for its passengers at every part of their journey, both on the ground and in the air.

NDC ensures that customers have fast access to full fare and travel product information, making for better decisions and easier transactions for travellers.

IATA has led this industry-wide initiative to standardise the way that airlines and travel service providers communicate with one another and customers. This certification, the highest level to be achieved under IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) Certification Programme, provides increased transparency and speed of communication, allowing customers access to a wider choice of products and services, enabling them to make more informed buying decisions.

Qatar Airways chief commercial officer, Ehab Amin, said, “As a global business with a global presence, we want to make it easier for customers to access our growing global network and range of products and services. As choices become more complex, we have to provide ways to access them more simply. That is what NDC is all about for Qatar Airways: improving the experience for our passengers.”

IATA Director NDC Program, Yanik Hoyles, added, “Congratulations to Qatar Airways on achieving the first Level 3 Certification on NDC standard 17.2 in the Africa and Middle East Region. Beginning with their participation in the full trial and live deployment of NDC, Qatar Airways has been a leader in the region in supporting NDC. It is a standard that is modernising the way that airline products are presented through travel agents, helping to deliver a fuller and more transparent shopping experience to travellers.”

This status, the highest level to be achieved, recognises that Qatar Airways uses the latest version of IATA’s global technology standard.

Technology provider TPConnects has been chosen to provide the technology link between airline, service providers and customers to a new global standard. "TPConnects is proud to work with Qatar Airways to facilitate the certification process and to be the first airline in the region to achieve the Level 3 Certification on the latest NDC standard. Travel Agents using TPConnects NDC Certified B2B Aggregator Platform, and Booking Engine will be able to access Qatar Airways prices, inventory and fares directly, including ancillary and fare family content, using NDC Offers and Orders," said Rajendran Vellapalath, CEO, TPConnects.