Mohit Rathod – Mumbai
The current IATA settlement system (ISS) model will be replaced with NewGen ISS which is said to have far reaching consequences, transforming business modules for travel agents and airlines. Along with NewGen ISS, New Distribution Capability (NDC) is also said to transform the way air products are retailed currently by the travel agents to corporations, leisure and business travellers. NDC will address the industry’s current distribution limitations: product differentiation and time-to-market, NDC will also give access to full air content and transparent shopping platform. The announcement was made at the meeting of TAAI Western region at Mumbai. Yossi Fatael, chairman, aviation and IATA’s Matter’s Committee, and vice president of United Federation of Travel Agents’ Associations (UFTAA) addressed travel agents about the pros and cons through a presentation.
Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Fatael said, “First of all, Indian travel agents need to understand the whole structure. The field is changing. The agency programme itself is going to change. This is a historic phase for us. The whole arena of reservation and aviation is going to change totally. Until now, GDS was the centre for airlines, agents, OTAs; everybody was coming and going out of the GDS. Airlines will be allowed a direct access to the databases through NDC.”
“The new model for accreditation will create a situation where many small agencies will be able to come back to IATA. This is one of the strategic aims of IATA; they want more accreditated agents. We see more and more global players coming to local markets. The major changes for travel agents are new models for accreditation and credit limit. However, there are some tools like the EasyPay card. The NewGen ISS will take at least two years to be implemented. It is a major issue for IATA and we are already on the way,” Fatael added. Sunil Kumar, president, TAAI, commented, “One of our committments to our members was that before we ask them to change, we must convey to them the scenario. We would be already late if we aren’t aware about what’s going to come in the next three years. So I requested Yossi to address our members in the Western and Northern region about the NewGen ISS and NDC – two revolutionary concepts introduced by IATA. One of the reasons behind the NewGen ISS is the surrendering of travel agents from IATA. But IATA has different plans, they want to multiply the number of accreditated agents.”
