The Lufthansa Group and technology service provider Saber have signed a new distribution agreement.
The contract allows for "mutual flexibility and technological innovation through the introduction of NDC," according to a Lufthansa press release. Under the agreement, Sabre will continue to distribute the Lufthansa Group airlines' offerings through its global distribution system. Furthermore, the contract establishes a new distribution model for the Lufthansa Group airlines' offerings based on the industry standard NDC, as reported by the travel portal Reisevor9.
After the planned start next year, the diversified NDC program will give the travel agencies affiliated to Saber worldwide the opportunity to access the offers of the Lufthansa Group airlines, Lufthansa announced. Access will be through the Saber Travel Marketplace and by logging into one of the two commercial models available for NDC.
The tech company Saber terminated its cooperation with the airlines in the Lufthansa Group at the end of June 2020. According to industry experts, the background to this was differences in the availability of NDC and “full content” in the GDS and the fees incurred. With the integration of the NDC offers into existing booking systems, Saber has apparently been able to establish itself. The Lufthansa airlines have given in.