Airlines Solved Pricing. Now Regulators Are Solving It Back.
September 21, 2026
For most of the last century, an airline seat had a price you could look up. A fare class, a booking code, a number on a chart. That model is
U.S. NDC Adoption Widens While Its Share of ARC Transactions Stalls
September 18, 2026
ARC’s August 2026 data shows a pattern worth pausing on. NDC transactions accounted for 21.5% of total ARC-settled transactions in August, while 1,221 travel agencies reported NDC activity, the highest
The Bill Comes Due: How the 2026 Middle East Conflict Exposed the Fragility of Gulf Airline Payments
September 18, 2026
When airspace over the UAE and Qatar closed on February 28, 2026, the immediate story was operational. Flights were cancelled, hubs went quiet, and passengers were stranded. Four months later,
TUI Airline Goes Live as GO7’s First Airline-Controlled Connectivity Partner
September 17, 2026
TUI Airline has become the first carrier to activate GO7’s airline-controlled connection model, known as Orchestrated Virtual Interlining (OVI). The launch lets TUI Airline customers combine two flights into a
Airlink’s Katherine Whelan: Don’t Expect A Quick Win From NDC
September 17, 2026
Airlink went live with NDC in July 2024. Nearly two years later, the South African carrier’s Chief Commercial Officer has a message for airlines still deciding whether to start. “There
Provider, Aggregator, or GDS? What Buyers Actually Need to Ask Before Signing
September 16, 2026
We traced the toll booth history of GDS distribution early this week. The short version was simple: NDC was airlines’ attempt to remove the toll booth, and instead multiplied the
UATP Had Its India Setup Ready a Year Before the Air India Deal
September 16, 2026
Air India will become the first airline in India to offer UATP accounts to businesses and travel agencies, UATP announced this month. On the surface, it looks like a conventional
Lufthansa Group Tests Whether NDC Can Survive the Corporate Approval Process
September 15, 2026
Lufthansa Group will pilot a 24 hour price guarantee for corporate bookings made through its NDC channels, running from October 1, 2026 through January 18, 2027. The mechanism extends the
The Toll Booth Era: A History of GDS, and Why Airlines Built a Way Around It
September 14, 2026
Most explanations of NDC start in the wrong place. They start with the standard itself, with Offer and Order, with XML versus EDIFACT, and they leave the reader with a
Airlines Are Getting Better at Selling Ancillaries. But Can Their Distribution Channels Keep Up?
September 11, 2026
Airlines have learned how to monetize the passenger beyond the ticket. According to the 2026 SeatMaps.com Yearbook of Ancillary Revenue, produced by IdeaWorksCompany, total ancillary revenue across 58 airlines tracked