By Chiheb Ouertani
For several years, I have been part of conversations about airline distribution with travel agencies operating across very different markets: Europe, North Africa, West Africa and the Middle East.
Some of these agencies are highly technology-oriented. Others remain strongly attached to traditional distribution processes. Yet regardless of the market, I keep hearing the same debate.
NDC is usually presented as a technology story. The conversation quickly moves toward APIs, XML messages, connectivity, aggregators and integrations. While all of these topics matter, I increasingly believe they are not the real story.
After countless conversations with travel professionals, I have arrived at a simple conclusion: the biggest challenge surrounding NDC is not technology. It is our understanding of where value is created in travel distribution.
The question behind the question
When the topic of NDC comes up, agencies tend to ask the same things. Can I modify a booking easily? Can I process a refund? Will the airline support me? Will servicing become more complicated? Will I save money?
These are legitimate concerns. But over time, I noticed something else beneath them: a question that is rarely expressed openly. What happens to my expertise if the way I work changes?
For decades, travel professionals built their value around mastering distribution systems. Knowing the commands. Knowing the shortcuts. Knowing how to navigate complexity faster than anyone else. That expertise created enormous value and should never be underestimated.
But the industry is entering a different phase. The discussion is gradually moving away from technical execution and toward decision-making, customer understanding and system-wide efficiency.
A question of classification
One of the most common misconceptions I encounter concerns the role of NDC platforms themselves. Many agencies try to classify them using frameworks they already know. I am often asked whether an NDC platform is a consolidator. Others treat it as just another intermediary. Some simply try to map it onto the traditional distribution model they are familiar with.
This, I think, is where part of the misunderstanding begins.
NDC is not about introducing a new intermediary, nor about swapping one technology for another. It represents a fundamentally different way of thinking about how travel offers are created, distributed and serviced. The objective is not to replace one screen or one channel with another. The objective is to improve how the entire distribution ecosystem functions.
Not all agencies experience this the same way
In more traditional environments, conversations about NDC stay focused on servicing, support and operational continuity. In more technology-oriented environments, the conversation shifts quickly. Within a few minutes, NDC itself is no longer the subject. The questions become: do you have an API? Can we automate the workflow? Can we connect our systems? Can we integrate the data?
For these agencies, NDC is not the destination. It is one building block within a larger ecosystem.
This is why I think the industry’s defining debate may no longer be NDC versus EDIFACT. The real conversation is increasingly about automation, interoperability, data quality and integration.
Where value moves
Historically, travel professionals created value by accessing information that was difficult to obtain and mastering systems that were difficult to use. Technology was complex. Distribution was fragmented. Expertise was measured by technical mastery.
Today, technology is becoming more accessible and increasingly invisible. As that happens, value begins to move.
The future travel professional may spend less time executing transactions and more time interpreting information. Less time mastering commands and more time understanding customer needs. Less time navigating systems and more time helping travelers make better decisions.
This does not diminish expertise. It transforms it.
The most valuable professionals of tomorrow may not be those who know the most commands. They may be those who best understand customer behavior, distribution economics and the broader travel ecosystem.
A new definition of quality
Our definition of quality is evolving too. For many years, quality was measured through servicing performance: how quickly a booking could be made, how efficiently a ticket could be changed, how effectively an agent could navigate a system. These metrics remain important. But they are no longer sufficient.
What I increasingly observe is a shift from servicing quality toward systemic quality: the quality of data, integrations and content; the consistency of customer experiences; the ability of different systems to work together efficiently and produce better outcomes across the entire ecosystem.
The industry is progressively moving from transaction optimization toward ecosystem optimization.
The deeper transformation
NDC is often framed as a technology transformation. I believe it is something much broader. Technology is simply the visible layer. The deeper transformation concerns professional identity, value creation and the evolution of expertise itself.
The question facing our industry is not whether NDC will continue to expand. The question is whether we are ready to redefine value in a world where technology becomes increasingly invisible and where success depends less on technical execution and more on understanding complex systems.
NDC is important. But NDC is not the destination. It may simply be the beginning of a much larger transformation.
Chiheb Ouertani is an airline distribution and travel technology specialist with experience across Europe, North Africa, West Africa and the Middle East. His work focuses on airline distribution, travel retailing, emerging technologies and the evolution of travel agency ecosystems.
