Insights from recent industry events

Offers & Orders has become the main topic of discussion amongst the wider travel industry. The readiness for the transition is apparent with many airlines now starting to make the investment. We sat down with Datalex's Senior Product Manager, Fred Van Toorn, to get his insights on Offers & Orders in 2024.

#1 Offers & Orders: The train has left the station

Every airline seems to be optimistic about the transition to Offers & Orders, with many already having embarked on their journey. There is excitement about the future that will ultimately free airlines from legacy technology constraints.

Fred Van Toorn, Senior Product Manager at Datalex said “Our product is very well prepared for the future vision of Offers & Orders. I think everybody in the industry agrees that the transition period is going to take some time and the main investment is going to be in supporting a hybrid world – with all the legacy process and systems such as the PSS, filed fares and RBD’s living alongside dynamic offers, dynamic bundles, AI-based pricing and modern order management. At Datalex, we’ve set up our solution to be very well prepared for this and we’re the perfect transition partner for airlines during that transition to Offers & Orders.”

#2 The future is Modular

Modularity and Interoperability are high on the agenda. Having the option of separate modules for offer management, order management and product management is of major interest to airlines. The need to have order management as a standalone capability rather than a single approach to offer and order management is becoming increasingly important in this new era of modern airline retailing. A tech stack that is modular, where best in breed solutions can be chosen is essentially what airlines are looking for.

According to Fred “At Datalex, we’ve worked hard to create an order management system that facilitates the transition beyond the PSS. The framework we’ve adopted for our order management system means that its very well positioned to be a standalone product and it’s one of the best solutions in the industry at the moment.”

Fred continued, “One of the great things about our platform is that we’ve always been PSS agnostic. In the Offers & Orders world, one of the goals is to move away from the PSS or to become less PSS dependent, so being PSS agnostic is a very good first step. A lot of other vendors in the industry are associated with a single PSS, but Datalex is completely PSS agnostic.”

#3 Taking the “N” out of NDC

New Distribution Capability (NDC) has been around for 12 years so we can’t really call it “new” anymore. Previously, we’ve seen a lot of talk around NDC and it being a product of its own, however, during the course of IATA’s recent Offers & Orders Forum, NDC was barely mentioned.

According to Fred, “While NDC is a foundational first step towards Offers & Orders, in this new world of Offers & Orders, NDC is being treated as part of the wider distribution channel. NDC is a prerequisite and enabler for the transition into 100% Offers & Orders. It’s not only helping airline's to bypass costly GDS fees, but it also puts the control of the airline’s offers back in the hands of the airline, enabling them to create more relevant and personalised offers, dynamically bundle ancillary or bundle relevant ancillary products to the “right to fly”. NDC is also a foundational component for the support of interoperability, where customers can manage their own bookings, regardless of the channel the original booking was made in.”

Datalex – Who are we?  

Datalex's purpose is to transform airline retail. Datalex is a market leader in airline retail technology, offering unique products that enable airlines to drive revenue and profit as digital retailers. Datalex has a strong track record of delivering digital retail transformation for progressive airline brands worldwide. The Group is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and maintains offices across Europe, the USA, and China. In 2024, Datalex was awarded the 'Great Place to Work®' certifications. Datalex plc is a publicly listed company, on Euronext Growth, Dublin. Learn more at www.datalex.com