What Makes OpenNDC Different? Inside the Most Advanced NDC Travel Tech Solution

The travel industry is rapidly transitioning to digital. With carriers wanting to move away from legacy, inflexible systems and toward real-time, personalized retailing, New Distribution Capability (NDC) is the catalyst. Not all NDC solutions, however, are made equal. While some simply bridge the gap between carriers and sellers, others redefine the distribution landscape altogether. There is one platform that rises above the rest—OpenNDC.

Why, then, is OpenNDC special among NDC platforms? In this blog here, we tell you how OpenNDC works, what it offers, and why it's the top pick of travel tech firms today.

Welcome to the New Distribution Capability (NDC)

Let's start with learning about NDC (New Distribution Capability) and why it matters first.

Developed by IATA, NDC is an XML messaging standard to enable airlines to distribute their offers directly to travel sellers with the flexibility of the previous GDS environments. IATA NDC enables airlines to:

• Offer dynamic pricing
• Present branded fares and ancillaries
• Offer personalized propositions to passengers
• Gain more control of their retail strategy

But scaling NDC requires more than a new standard—it requires a robust, scalable technology platform. That's where OpenNDC is stepping in.

What Is OpenNDC?

OpenNDC is a pioneering NDC travel technology solution that simplifies the complexities of airline distribution in today's market. It is an intelligent middleware and aggregator that connects travel sellers with multiple airlines through NDC APIs—all within a single, unified platform.

OpenNDC allows OTAs, TMCs, corporate booking tools, and other travel technology firms to offer rich, dynamic content with low friction. It's designed to achieve the complete potential of NDC, beyond the practical constraints of connectivity, personalization, and scalability.

How OpenNDC Works

In an effort to understand what sets OpenNDC apart, we need to explore its greatest strengths. The following is a brief overview of how OpenNDC works:

1. Aggregation of Multiple Airline APIs

OpenNDC integrates dozens of airline NDC APIs into a single solid interface, encapsulating their content. This removes the integration work for each one separately, months of development time saved.

2. Unified Offer and Order Management

The platform has a robust Offer & Order Management System (OMS). Travel sellers are able to make it simple to control the whole life cycle of a reservation from search and price all the way through to ticketing, alterations, and refunds, all in one location.

3. Dynamic Pricing and Personalization

OpenNDC enables dynamic pricing and personalization by harnessing the intelligence of airline NDC systems to deliver travelers with the right product, at the right time, at the right price.

4. Rich Content Presentation

As opposed to old legacy GDS systems displaying skimpy, text-only data, OpenNDC enables rich media content—seat maps, images, fare comparison, and branded offers—to be delivered. Customers make better choices.

5. Plug-and-Play Integration

Through modern-day RESTful APIs, SDKs, and airline-ready connectors, OpenNDC is developer-centric and easy to implement. Travel companies can go to market faster and scale rapidly.

6. Multi-Airline Shopping

Multi-airline shopping is facilitated through OpenNDC, and customers can see several NDC-capable airlines in a single window—a complete change for OTAs and business platforms.

What Sets OpenNDC Apart from Other Solutions?

There are many NDC aggregators and platforms available—but OpenNDC differentiates itself by its innovation, flexibility, and depth of service. Here's why OpenNDC shines:

Built for Scale

OpenNDC is designed to handle high-traffic volume worldwide. Need to support 10,000 daily searches or a million? The platform adapts with quick, solid speed.

Highly Flexible for Any Business Model

From B2C OTAs to corporate B2B booking websites, OpenNDC can be tailored to your business needs. Its modular design allows you to take advantage of only what you need—be it NDC aggregating in isolation or full booking and payment functionality.

Real-Time Analytics and Reporting

OpenNDC offers advanced dashboards and performance analysis. Travel sellers can monitor conversions, customer behavior, airline performance, and more—all with the goal of allowing them to make smarter business decisions. 

Future-Proof Architecture

Thanks to its microservices and cloud-native architecture, OpenNDC is future-proof. It adjusts to evolving airline standards, changing NDC versions, and emerging travel trends. 

Hybrid Content Aggregation

OpenNDC doesn't just connect to NDC APIs—but can also handle classic GDS and direct airline channels. This gives you one view of all the content, with consistency and completeness.

Why OpenNDC?

Still wondering why OpenNDC? Here are the best reasons why it's the travel tech innovators' choice:

Faster Go-to-Market: Get integrated and selling in weeks, not months.

Cost Savings: Save on distribution costs by doing away with the additional costs of legacy GDS fees.

Better UX: Deliver richer, more intuitive booking experiences for end-consumers.

Personalized Offers: Yield-optimize results for loyalty members and frequent flyers.

Full Control: Control fares, ancillaries, and policies in a single central platform.

Whether you are a startup creating a new airline travel app or an enterprise retrofitting legacy systems, OpenNDC offers unprecedented flexibility and power.

Conclusion: OpenNDC Is Redefining Airline Distribution

While the airline industry races towards digital-first retailing, solutions such as OpenNDC aren't only making it happen—but speeding it up as well. With its unprecedented ability to bind, aggregate, and personalize, OpenNDC is turning travel technology on its head.

Interested in what is OpenNDC, or how does OpenNDC work—don't worry that it's just an NDC connector. It's a tomorrow ecosystem built to support the next generation of travel distribution.