Executive Interview | Travel Distribution News
As airlines accelerate their shift toward retail-driven distribution, the industry is moving beyond experimentation into structural transformation. After several years of building the foundations around NDC standards, API connectivity, and offer management, the focus is now shifting toward commercial control, operational scalability, and distribution economics.
In this executive interview, Jerrin Jos, Founder and CEO of Verteil Technologies, shares his perspective on the evolving distribution landscape, the realities behind large-scale NDC adoption, the future role of intermediaries, and what will define industry leaders over the next phase of airline retailing.
“The industry has crossed the inflection point, the real retail transformation is just beginning.”
1. Airline distribution has been in transition for several years. In your view, has the industry reached a real inflection point, or are we still in an early phase of structural change?
Airline distribution is no longer just in transition, it has crossed from initial phases into structural redesign. The industry has spent several years building the required foundations, including NDC standards, API connectivity, offer management capabilities, and retailing concepts. Airlines have been testing and rolling out features, aggregators and sellers have increasingly adapted, and legacy systems continue to coexist with new models.
What has changed recently is the intensity of intent. Airlines are no longer asking whether they should modernize distribution; they are actively seeking greater commercial control, pricing autonomy, and improved distribution economics.
At the same time, the structural redesign of airline retailing is still unfolding across multiple layers. The next stage will not only change how content is distributed, but will redefine how offers are created, priced, sold, and serviced end-to-end. In that sense, we are at the beginning of the real retail transformation.
2. Despite significant investment, NDC has yet to achieve true operational scale across the ecosystem. What do you see as the key factors slowing large-scale maturity?
NDC was never just a technology upgrade, it represents a structural shift and structural shifts take time.
The industry initially underestimated the operational complexity involved. Exposing APIs is only the starting point. It must be followed by re-engineering offer creation, servicing workflows, settlement processes, reporting, and mid- and back-office integrations at scale. Much of the ecosystem still runs on legacy foundations that were never designed for retailing.
Three factors stand out as the primary brakes on maturity.
- First, coexistence with legacy systems. Airlines continue to run PNR, ticket, and EMD architectures alongside emerging order-based models, creating operational friction that slows the pace of change.
- Second, servicing maturity. Replicating the full spectrum of changes, refunds, disruptions, and interline scenarios at scale remains genuinely complex and is still a work in progress across much of the industry.
- Third, economic alignment across the value chain. Airlines benefit from greater control and margin optimization, but agencies must see productivity gains and intermediaries must adapt their revenue structures. When value shifts unevenly, adoption naturally slows.
That said, progress in recent years has been significant. The industry is now moving from connectivity discussions to scalability discussions.
3. Airlines are increasingly focused on retailing and direct customer relationships. In this context, how do you see the long-term role of intermediaries evolving?
Airlines are right to prioritize retailing and direct customer relationships. Owning the customer experience, data, and pricing autonomy is central to modern airline strategy. However, this does not eliminate the role of intermediaries, it redefines it.
Historically, intermediaries primarily provided access and aggregation. In a retailing environment, their long-term value lies in enabling scale, simplification, and integration across a fragmented ecosystem without diluting the value of the airline’s offer.
Corporate travel programs, online travel agencies, meta platforms, and retail agents remain critical demand channels. Airlines may own the offer, but intermediaries help distribute those offers efficiently, integrate them into complex workflows, and provide comparison, servicing, and payment orchestration at scale.
The shift is from control of content to enablement of retail infrastructure. Retailing is not about removing intermediaries, it is about modernizing their role in the value chain.
4. For travel agencies, the shift toward dynamic offers and richer content also introduces operational complexity. What capabilities will agencies need to remain competitive in the new distribution environment?
The move toward dynamic offers increases operational complexity, particularly for agencies built around standardized fare-filed workflows.
To remain competitive, agencies will need to evolve across three areas.
Technology adaptation comes first. Agencies must adopt API-native, multi-source platforms capable of handling real-time dynamic pricing, offer revalidation, and full end-to-end servicing.
Servicing capability is equally critical. In a retailing environment, post-sale servicing becomes as important as the initial transaction. Productivity in managing changes, refunds, and disruptions will directly influence competitiveness.
Advisory capability is the third dimension. As offers become more dynamic and personalized, agencies have the opportunity to move beyond transactional selling toward value-driven advisory by leveraging data and understanding customer preferences.
Retailing increases complexity, but it also creates new opportunities for agencies that invest in modern infrastructure.
5. Many emerging markets, including parts of Africa, face additional challenges such as infrastructure constraints and fragmented technology adoption. How should the industry approach modern distribution in these environments?
Modern distribution in emerging markets cannot simply replicate mature-market models. Infrastructure maturity, connectivity reliability, payment ecosystems, and technology fragmentation all influence adoption.
The approach must be pragmatic and modular. Solutions should be lightweight and API-native, capable of operating efficiently across varying connectivity conditions. Payments are central, as alternative payment methods, mobile money, and non-card ecosystems play a significant role in many markets.
Agency enablement is also critical. Distribution across Africa remains relationship-driven and highly regionalized. Adoption accelerates when tools simplify dynamic content and improve productivity rather than increase workflow complexity.
Emerging markets are not behind in ambition, they require tailored execution that balances flexibility, modularity, and commercial sustainability.
6. Looking ahead three to five years, what will distinguish the distribution leaders from the laggards across airlines, technology providers, and sellers?
Over the next three to five years, distribution leadership will be defined less by connectivity and more by control, economics, and execution discipline.
Airlines that move beyond incremental NDC adoption and fully embrace retail architecture — owning dynamic offer creation and measuring performance based on margin impact rather than volume will lead. Technology providers that offer scalable, modular, API-native platforms aligned with airline objectives, and that solve for servicing, settlement, payments, and performance, will stand out. For agencies, competitiveness will depend on productivity and advisory strength. Those that modernize their infrastructure and evolve toward value-driven selling will remain highly relevant.
The industry is moving from connectivity debates to performance outcomes and that shift will separate organizations that evolve strategically from those that adapt tactically.
This interview is part of the Travel Distribution News Executive Interview Series.
