NDC for Corporate Travel Buyers: What It Means for You

NDC for Corporate Travel Buyers: What It Means for You

Corporate travel buyers often first hear about NDC when something doesn't work: a fare that can't be changed the usual way, or content that shows in one tool but not another. NDC (New Distribution Capability) is IATA's standard for how airlines distribute their content, and it's changing what your travellers can book and how those bookings get serviced. This guide covers what it changes for your programme, from the buyer's side.

Key Takeaways

• NDC lets airlines sell richer, more differentiated content (bundles, ancillaries, personalised offers) beyond the flattened legacy display.

• The catch is servicing: NDC bookings are often tied to the system they were sold through, so changes and refunds can be harder.

• Adoption is climbing but uneven. NDC made up 21.2% of US agency air transactions in December 2025 (ARC, 2026), yet corporate agencies handled only 7% of NDC transactions that year (Travel Weekly, 2026).

• What matters for buyers: make sure your booking route carries both GDS and NDC content and can service both cleanly.

What is NDC, in one paragraph?

NDC brings the airline's own website content into the channel your company books through.

NDC is an IATA data standard that lets airlines distribute their offers directly and richly, rather than through the flattened, decades-old display the legacy GDS channel was built on. In practice, airlines can present differentiated fares, bundles, seat and baggage options, and personalised offers at the point of booking. It's the kind of content you'd see on the airline's own website, now available through corporate channels.

For the deeper comparison of how NDC differs from the traditional GDS, the GDS vs NDC guide covers it properly. The rest of this post assumes you just want to know what to do about it.

Why does NDC matter to a corporate travel programme?

It changes what your travellers can book and what your team has to fix afterwards.

Three implications matter for buyers:

• Richer content. NDC lets airlines sell bundles, seats, bags and personalised offers through your booking channel, much as they do on their own websites. A channel that can't see NDC content may be showing your travellers a narrower set of options than the airline offers.

• A servicing catch. NDC bookings are often tied to the airline system they were sold through, so a change or refund needs that specific connection. Handled badly, a simple change becomes a support ticket.

• Content fragmentation. With airline content split across the legacy GDS and NDC, "can we book everything in one place, and service it there too?" becomes a real question.

NDC is good for content and can be painful for servicing. Which of those you get depends mostly on the tool or TMC you book through.

Photo: AirTeo / Pexels

NDC adoption, by the numbers

About a fifth of US agency air transactions, with corporate agencies catching up from a low base.

NDC transactions made up 21.2% of all ARC-settled US agency air transactions in December 2025, up from 20.3% a year earlier (ARC, 2026). That's roughly one in five, up 0.9 points in a year, and 1,139 agencies reported NDC transactions that month.

Adoption is uneven by channel. Online travel agencies handled 77% of settled NDC transactions in 2025, leisure agencies 16% and corporate agencies 7%, up from 4% in 2024 (Travel Weekly, 2026, citing ARC data). Travel Weekly links the slower corporate uptake partly to weaker post-sale servicing for NDC bookings in the GDSs.

These are US figures, because ARC settles US agency sales. Treat them as a signal of direction for markets such as Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, not as a local share. For a corporate buyer, NDC is mainstream enough to matter to your fares today, and immature enough that servicing and coverage still vary a lot between providers.

What should a buyer actually ask?

The servicing question tells you more than any demo.

Before committing to a booking tool, platform or TMC, ask four questions. Each one heads off a known NDC problem:

• Do you carry both GDS and NDC content? A channel that sees only one shows an incomplete market, so a fare a traveller found on the airline's site can be missing from your booking tool.

• Can you service NDC changes, cancellations and refunds cleanly, end to end? Ask for an example. NDC bookings are often tied to the airline's own system, and that's where a routine change can fail.

• Are NDC fares shown alongside GDS fares, with change and refund terms visible at booking?

• How do NDC bags and seats flow into reporting and reconciliation? NDC bundles them into the offer, and if the channel doesn't break them out, they disappear from your spend analysis.

We think the servicing question is the one that separates a provider that has adopted NDC from one that only displays it. Booking NDC content is the easier half. Servicing it across many airlines is harder, and it's where buyers get caught.

Where a platform fits

One place to see both kinds of content is the start; servicing both is the test.

A platform that aggregates GDS and NDC content can show both in one place, so your team doesn't have to choose between channels. Accomy, for instance, carries both GDS and NDC content, so a booker sees the fuller market in one interface. Ask any provider, Accomy included, to walk you through an NDC change or refund from start to finish.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is NDC in corporate travel?

NDC (New Distribution Capability) is an IATA data standard that lets airlines distribute richer, more differentiated content (bundles, ancillaries, personalised offers) beyond the flattened legacy GDS display. For a corporate programme it means travellers can access airline-website-grade content through managed channels, though NDC bookings can be harder to service (change or refund) than traditional GDS bookings. That's why the channel you book through matters as much as the standard itself.

Why does NDC matter for a travel buyer?

Because it affects both the fares your travellers see and the work your team handles. NDC carries content the legacy display can't, so a channel that can't see it shows a narrower market. NDC bookings are also often tied to the system they were sold through, which makes servicing harder. Whether NDC helps or hurts your programme depends largely on how well your booking tool or TMC carries and services it.

How much of air travel uses NDC now?

In the US, NDC made up 21.2% of ARC-settled agency air transactions in December 2025, up from 20.3% a year earlier (ARC, 2026). That's roughly one in five. Online travel agencies handled 77% of NDC transactions in 2025 and corporate agencies 7%, up from 4% in 2024 (Travel Weekly, 2026). These are US figures, and coverage and servicing still vary between providers. Ask any provider how much of its own air volume runs through NDC today.

What is the difference between NDC and GDS?

The GDS is the long-established channel that aggregates airline content in a standardised but flattened display, while NDC lets airlines distribute richer, differentiated offers more directly. Modern programmes generally need both, since airline content is split across them. The practical test is whether your channel can book and service both, and in particular whether it can change or refund an NDC ticket without sending you back to the airline.

What should I ask a travel platform about NDC?

Ask four things. Do you carry both GDS and NDC content? Can you service NDC bookings (changes, cancellations, refunds) cleanly, with an example? Are NDC fares shown alongside GDS fares, with their terms clear? And how do NDC ancillaries flow into reporting and reconciliation? The servicing question is the most revealing, because displaying NDC content is the easier half and servicing it across airlines is the harder one.

About Accomy: Accomy is an APAC-first travel operating system that carries both GDS and NDC content, with policy, payment, and human support built in. More at About Accomy.

Related reading:

• GDS vs NDC, what's the difference? (the full side-by-side of the two standards)

• What is a travel operating system? (the layer that unifies the content)

• How does Accomy work? (GDS + NDC in one place, in practice)

Sources (checked 2 October 2026)

• ARC, Annual U.S. Travel Agency Air Ticket Sales Surpass $100 Billion for the First Time (NDC 21.2% of ARC-settled transactions in December 2025, up from 20.3% in December 2024; 1,139 agencies reported NDC transactions), 15 January 2026: https://www2.arccorp.com/about-us/newsroom/2026-news-releases/december-2025-air-ticket-sales/

• Travel Weekly, Robert Silk, NDC adoption surges among traditional agencies in 2025 (ARC data: OTAs 77%, leisure agencies 16%, corporate agencies 7% of settled NDC transactions in 2025; 85%, 11% and 4% in 2024), 25 January 2026: https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Technology/ARC-reports-rising-NDC-adoption-2025

• IATA, New Distribution Capability (NDC) programme (standard definition): https://www.iata.org/en/programs/airline-distribution/retailing/ndc/