Timothy O’Neil-Dunne reports on his key observations made at the recent T2RL Engage conference in London.
That great chill between airlines and the GDSes is beginning to see a softening and a thaw in the relationships. Perhaps global warming can have some positive impact.
That’s the key sentiment I took away from the T2RL Engage 2024 conference held in London last month. More than 500 airlines, vendors and sellers joined this year, its biggest yet, indicating the strong interest in the airline of airline distribution.
These are my key takeaways:
- NDC – making meaningful progress.
- OO(S)SD is the future state, recognition of the importance of service components. The PSS world is moving and the replacement of the PNR is now in sight. Dynamic (Continuous) Pricing will move to “real” real-time pricing in all channels.
- An era of détente seems to be emerging with GDSs no longer on the endangered species list. Airlines and Travel Sellers/Intermediaries are being a lot friendlier
- New players such as Flyr and CitizenPlane are emerging. This is good to see that newcomers have a place. But the stakes are very high.
- Pros is at the heart for airlines, Revenue Management (RM) is both a science and an art.
- ATPCO has managed to redefine itself away from the world of just fare rules. Fares and rules are dead, long live the product catalogue.
- UATP is not just about its card programme any more. As payment splinters its infrastructure is picking up where others are failing.
- Modularity was the new buzz word.
On the downside, there are some realities that were clearly on display. IATA’s failure to clearly define the NDC standard and its subsequent management has cost the industry both time and undoubtedly a lot of money. The full adoption curve is now many years away.
After 12 years, realistically there are quite a few years left before widespread adoption. Some carriers are doing well, far too many others are laggards. This will have a detrimental impact on both sides. Supporting multiple systems and architectures will come at a cost that must be borne but by whom?
Amadeus’s dominance remains largely unchallenged. That said Sabre’s Mosaic next gen PSS announcement and its first customer (Virgin Australia) is welcome news. The rumor mill was working hard to determine who Flyr’s first major customer will be – and the beneficiary of that massive haul of investor cash. A Gulf carrier seemed to be leading the stakes. CitizenPlane has acquired TTI and will be rolling out its new Airline Operating System. Hints of others to join that space abound as the traditional PSS looks to be slowly sinking into history.
Speaking of Amadeus, the announcement of no support for Code Share in Amadeus’s next gen system, Nevio has sent a wave of shivers among many airlines and Travel Sellers. In his opening address, Richard Clark (CEO of T2RL conference hosts), addressed several key trends clearly backed up with data. The realization is that there will be an increase in the cost of distribution should seem obvious, but it still bodes ill for many. Further that the OOSSD vendors are going to be dipping into the airlines revenue stream is a hard economic fact.
One highlight during the event was the appearance of American Airlines former CCO – Vasu Raja, who gave a full throttle interview on where airlines need to be. It was quite thought provoking. Will history be kinder on his bold move at AA?
On the AI front, the assumption was clear. It’s already here and well deployed. Art and Science powered by AI will be an arms race. Surprisingly while customer centricity was mentioned, my lasting impression from the event was that customer is secondary to the airlines getting their houses in order and the industry being better prepared for a wide and varied product catalogue.
Reflecting on the three days with many meaningful conversations with stakeholders, I was left with a sense of coming stability. There are clearly many different forces at work. I was struck by a better sense of cooperation.
Perhaps the industry has realized that joined up thinking and working together is better than the alternative chaos. That chaos is not going away totally, and everyone is clearly not singing Kumbaya. I do wish however, there was greater focus on the consumer.
