Ural Airlines first Russian airline to use Amadeus Altéa NDC

July 8, 2020

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Ural Airlines becomes the first Eastern European airline to successfully implement the innovative Altéa NDC technology from Amadeus

Ural Airlines , one of the largest and most dynamic Russian airlines, has successfully completed the first stage of Amadeus Altéa NDC implementation, becoming the first airline user of this innovative solution in Russia and also in Eastern Europe. The airline now has a wider range of opportunities for air travel sales and distribution including airline merchandising.

Ural Airlines can now offer its fares and additional services through their NDC API powered by a single Order/Passenger Name Record (PNR).

The strategic IT cooperation between Amadeus and Ural Airlines, began in 2012. At that time, Ural Airlines became the first Amadeus airline customer in Russia to implement all three modules of the Amadeus Altéa PSS (Altéa Reservation, Altéa Inventory, Altéa Departure Control System) for integrated passenger service management.

Olga Igosheva, Deputy Commercial Director for IT Solutions at Ural Airlines: "This is a crucial stage in our strategy. We are actively using Amadeus' innovative solutions to optimize our costs, increase sales efficiency, and manage our business more flexibly. With Amadeus’ support, we were able to implement a multi-channel air ticket and ancillary services sales system using the latest IATA NDC standard. Biletix was the first online travel agency (OTA) to connect to our content using Altéa NDC. The next phase of this collaboration is to launch new ancillary services and make these available to our customers through our NDC partners."

"We are happy to strengthen our long-standing partnership with Ural Airlines and continue to jointly develop innovative services for travelers. Having introduced Altéa NDC, Ural Airlines has joined the ranks of the world's leading air carriers adopting this solution. The launch of NDC is just the beginning of a journey encompassing the further digital transformation of Ural Airlines' business and the introduction of advanced technologies. This is a milestone that contributes to the development of the Russian aviation industry and its integration into the global community. We see great potential in NDC and intend to continue working together with our clients and partners to ensure that the new standard meets the expectations of all players, including those working in the Russian market," - Svetlana Malyuk, Director for Airlines, Russia and CIS, Amadeus.

Igor Konstantinov, CEO of theBiletix travel internet service (part of Vipservice): "I’m proud that we are the first OTA to complete Altéa NDC bookings in the Russian market. Opening Ural Airlines' ticket sales under the new NDC protocol required coordinated and prompt work from many parties as the first implementation of this kind for our team. Developers working for the airline, our agency, and the integrator company under the direction of Amadeus experts were involved. As a result, we implemented a service that meets the new international standards that the NDC protocol provides to our market. We hope that the implementation will provide learnings to the industry and other local players.”

The Altéa NDC solution integrates with core Altéa PSS functions and enables Altéa airlines to enhance traveler retailing experiences by distributing airline offers through third parties. Thanks to complete Offer & Order Management Systems integration, Amadeus Altéa NDC supports end-to-end NDC booking flows, from shopping to purchasing to servicing. It allows airlines to manage their offer and order using IATA NDC-XML verbs. To date, Altéa NDC has been contracted by 12 airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines, Finnair, Cathay Pacific and Bangkok Airways.

As one of the major contributors to the development of NDC across the travel industry, Amadeus is working with multiple airlines and travel agencies around the world as they embrace this innovative protocol. Amadeus currently holds dual Level 4 NDC certifications from IATA: as an IT provider through the Altéa PSS and the fully integrated NDC IT portfolio, and as an aggregator with the Amadeus Travel Platform.

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