Japan Airlines (JAL) has announced its ongoing retail transformation following the recent move by the airline to deepen its strategic distribution partnership with Amadeus, which has become JAL’s recommended distribution partner for travel agents in Japan.

The implementation of Amadeus Altéa NDC will help JAL enhance the retailing and servicing of its offers across channels, ensuring consistent brand delivery at scale.

Cyril Tetaz, executive vice president of airlines in the Asia Pacific at Amadeus said: “We believe that it is key for airlines to open up innovative and exciting cross-channel retailing opportunities. Airlines are on a digital transformation journey and NDC is one of the ways they can improve their retailing capabilities. By implementing Amadeus NDC connect, Japan Airlines will be able to work in an agile and simple manner to support its long-term digital innovation strategy to effectively distribute NDC.”

“We are aiming to differentiate our travel offers based on value rather than just price”

JAL will be integrating its NDC contents into the Amadeus Travel Platform for distribution using Amadeus NDC Connect, which is a solution specifically designed for Altéa airlines to make their NDC content seamlessly available for travel sellers worldwide.

For Amadeus travel sellers this means that JAL’s NDC content will soon be available through the Amadeus Travel Platform through an NDC connectivity, ensuring operational continuity and access to a wide range of JAL’s content.

Yoriyuki Kashiwagi, executive officer, managing division passenger sales at Japan Airlines, said: “New technology such as NDC will enrich our customers’ experience and support the long-term digital transformation strategy of JAL. We are aiming to differentiate our travel offers based on value rather than just price.”

JAL is to be one of the airline partners in Amadeus’ NDC [X] programme – a program to bring all the NDC activities across Amadeus under one roof. Currently, 25+ travel sellers and 16 airlines are a part of the program. Amadeus is committed to make NDC work at scale across all channels, direct and intermediated; to ensure airlines can distribute their content easily through the channels of their choosing — and that travel sellers can compare, book and service that all content side by side regardless of source.