The Lufthansa Group and technology service provider Saber have signed a new distribution agreement. 

The contract allows “mutual flexibility and technological innovation through the introduction of NDC”, according to a Lufthansa announcement. As part of the contract, Saber will continue to sell the Lufthansa Group Airlines' offers through its global distribution system. In addition, the contract now regulates the distribution of the Lufthansa Group Airlines' offers via the NDC industry standard, such as the travel portal Travel before 9 reported.

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.