American Express Global Business Travel and Delta Air Lines have expanded their long-term agreement to include Delta's New Distribution Capability offers in the Amex GBT marketplace when they become available, the travel management company announced on Thursday.
The agreement also enables travellers to choose from Delta's range of branded fares – including joint venture partners Aeromexico, Latam, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic, Air France and KLM – in one display in Amex GBT's booking channels.
Amex GBT said it would continue to work with Delta to roll out NDC via the global distribution systems to provide "better shopping and servicing experiences at scale".
Delta has said it is building and testing an NDC solution, but officials in March said a large-scale launch was unlikely to happen in 2025.
Amex GBT also recently confirmed the roll-out of Finnair NDC content in “all proprietary channels and all main points of sale”, enabling customers to access NDC content without any surcharges. The carrier charges a €15 per-way EDIFACT fee but waives it for NDC bookings.
Finnair in 2024 pulled back on its previously announced plan to exit from EDIFACT completely by year-end 2025, saying that the "pace of change" toward modern airline retailing was taking longer than anticipated, according to BTN stablemate The Beat (linked story requires a subscription).
In February last year, it launched PrioFlex fares – exclusive to its direct and NDC-connected channels – that include “all the benefits” of the carrier’s Flex tickets as well as additional perks such as priority check-in, security and boarding, plus luggage, seat selection, ticket changes and refunds for cancellations.
Amex GBT said that its NDC programme now has more than 20 key airline partners and has processed more than one million NDC tickets since January 2024 across 16 country points of sale.