Qantas has today announced a new model for travel agents to access Qantas fares, as the airline continues to invest in its new distribution capabilities to better serve the evolving needs of agents and customers.
Launching mid-next year, the new model reflects a global drive towards adoption of IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) technology, which has significant benefits for travel agents and their customers.
From 1 July 2025, agents will be able to access Qantas content a number of ways, with surcharge free options as well as varying ticket surcharges, including:
Qantas has worked closely with its partners on its distribution transformation to ensure the new model is designed to set agents up for success into the future. This includes all its GDS partners; Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport and 10 other Certified Technology Partners.
Qantas Group International CEO, Cam Wallace said: “NDC has huge benefits for both customers and agents compared to traditional indirect booking systems. For customers, it means an opportunity for better pricing, more fare options and a personalised experience with more visibility for Qantas Frequent Flyers on the number of Qantas Points and Status Credits earned on flights. And for agents, they’ll have access to more fares and opportunities to earn through dynamic commission offers and provides them with the tools to create tailored trips that go far beyond a basic fare and itinerary.”
“Agents today are using booking systems that were built before the internet even existed. Customers have told us they want a more personalised, flexible and seamless booking experience, whether they book directly with us or indirectly through a travel agent or a corporate travel manager,” Mr Wallace said.
CEO Flight Centre Travel Group, Graham Turner said: “NDC is the future for our industry, and FCTG is at the forefront of this change working with Qantas and airline partners to drive its adoption. This technology will bring additional benefits to our customers including enhanced capability, access to richer content and greater personalisation.
“We are empowering our agents to be equipped to provide our customers with access to the widest range of products, fares and airline services via NDC. FCTG works closely with our GDS partners and have invested in our own aggregation specialist, TPConnects to support the scalable rollout of NDC.
“We look forward to working closely with Qantas to help deliver these benefits and as part of our objective of securing access to the widest range of product for our people and customers,” Mr Turner said.
Chris Wilding, Senior Vice President, Air Distribution, Sabre Travel Solutions, said “As Qantas continues to enhance its content offerings with more sophisticated and tailored solutions, Sabre’s marketplace can significantly help Qantas distribute this content to travellers worldwide through our extensive network of travel sellers.
“Equally vital is empowering travel agents with the flexibility and choice to access and compare a wide variety of content, from traditional EDIFACT to NDC, within a seamless and unified experience. Sabre’s multi-source platform normalizes diverse content types, enabling agents to shop, book, and service offerings efficiently through a single, intuitive interface—driving better decisions and superior service delivery for their travellers.” Mr Wilding said.
Damian Hickey, Group Vice President & Global Head of Travel Partners at Travelport said:
“Travelport is committed to providing travel agents with access to richer content, greater flexibility and advanced servicing capabilities, all enhanced by our AI-powered Content Curation Layer which allows them to tailor search options and results, no matter the source. As a Premium NDC partner, we’re proud to continue our longstanding relationship with Qantas to drive the future of travel retail.”
Qantas Executive Manager, Global Sales & Distribution, Kathryn Robertson said Agency Partners are of huge importance to Qantas.
“That’s why we’ve invested in new technology to help set our agency partners up for success and make it easier for them to provide an improved booking and travel experience to their customers well into the future.
“We recognise this is a big change for our partners in the way they work which is why our teams will be working closely with the travel agent community over the next six months to ensure agents have time to transition to the new technology.
“We want to see our agency partners benefit from the significant capabilities of NDC and for all of us as an industry to better support our customers,” Ms Robertson said.
This new model will replace the Qantas Channel agreements currently in place with Agency Partners.
More about NDC
Over the past five years, Qantas has been investing in IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) technology to transform the booking and servicing capabilities available to our travel agents and enable the best possible experience for our customers.
This technology, which is widespread globally and reaching maturity, provides a more streamlined booking and travel experience than traditional indirect booking systems.
For customers booking through a travel agent, NDC has a number of benefits that may be provided by their travel agent, including:
For agents, NDC offers an enhanced shopping experience, with real time servicing enhancements and new offer types for customers, as well as: