NDC debut alert! Travelport reckons its has become the first of the global distribution systems to manage live bookings of flights using the new connection standard.

The company claims the first transaction made by a GDS using New Distribution Capability was made by a British travel agency (Meon Valley Travel) last week.

The ticket sold was for a short-haul, low-cost flight from London to Milan in Italy, using Travelport’s Smartpoint desktop system for agents.

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Travelport has not disclosed the name of the airline.

Gordon Wilson, Travelport’s President and CEO, said: “This is a landmark moment for airline distribution. We are delighted to have taken a lead in bringing the NDC era to life.

“We are still at the very earliest stages of NDC deployment. Its evolution will continue to take time as we learn from the practical experience of its first use.”

Travelport says its first version of the NDC capability will be used by a “steadily increasing number of agencies and airlines as part of the NDC rollout”.

The company achieved Level 3 certification to become an aggregator of NDC-based ticketing in December 2017.