Finnair, Skyscanner and Amadeus join forces to boost conversion with assisted bookings
Travellers can now book Finnair flights and ancillaries directly with the airline without leaving Skyscanner’s platform
Like all retailers, airlines want to maintain close contact with their customers so that they can tailor their shopping experience and make it as simple and personalised as possible.
With this goal in mind, Finnair is working with Amadeus to launch a new solution, Amadeus Altea NDC, which is based on IATA's NDC (New Distribution Capability) XML-based messaging standard.
Finnair is piloting the solution with Skyscanner, one of the world’s leading metasearch sites. Travellers purchasing Finnair flights from Skyscanner can complete their purchase without leaving the Skyscanner platform, with a seamless process from search to booking.
This new NDC API from Amadeus offers an additional distribution option for travel retailers to integrate Finnair’s flights, seats and ancillaries. It also adds to Amadeus’ existing assisted booking portfolio aimed at boosting conversion for airlines in the increasingly important meta channel.
Rogier van Enk, Vice President Distribution, Commercial Excellence & Data Science at Finnair says, "Finnair is focused on growing our operations, including ancillaries. This new solution adds yet another option for our partners to sell the full range of Finnair offers with an assisted booking through our systems – especially startups – and at the same time, it can greatly enhance the customer experience.”
Stuart Middleton, Commercial Director at Skyscanner commented, “As the world’s leading travel search engine, Skyscanner is the first comparison point for over 50 million monthly travellers and we’re always looking for new ways to create a more seamless user experience that ultimately boosts conversion for our partners. Our industry-leading Direct Booking platform offers a frictionless experience for travellers and enhanced results for carriers. We are confident that the latest integration of the Amadeus Altéa NDC will ensure that we stay ahead of the curve and continue to open up new and deeper partnership opportunities with airlines moving forward.”
Manuel Midon, Head of Airlines in Northern & Western EU for Amadeus says, “As a technology provider for the travel industry, our aim is to provide innovative tools that meet the needs of airlines and travel sellers so they can collaborate more closely to improve the shopping experience for travellers through all channels. Amadeus Altéa NDC is the latest addition to Amadeus’ range of IT solutions for the real-time distribution of fares and ancillaries, as well as an additional option within our existing portfolio for airlines and metasearch players wishing to implement assisted bookings flows.”
Further information:
Finnair Media Desk, +358 9 818 4020, comms(a)finnair.com
www.finnair.com, www.finnairgroup.com
www.twitter.com/Finnair
www.facebook.com/finnair
www.instagram.com/feelfinnair
www.youtube.com/finnair
Images: gallery.finnair.com
Finnair blog: blogs.finnair.com
About Finnair
Finnair flies between Asia, Europe and North America with an emphasis on fast connections via Helsinki, carrying more than ten million passengers annually. In 2017, Finnair's extensive network connects 18 cities in Asia and 7 cities in North America with over 60 destinations in Europe. The airline, a pioneer in sustainable flying, was the first European airline to fly the next-generation, eco-smart Airbus A350 XWB aircraft and it is the first airline listed in the Leadership Index of the worldwide Carbon Disclosure Project. The only Nordic carrier with a 4-star Skytrax ranking, Finnair has also won the World Airline Award for Best Airline Northern Europe for the past seven years running. Finnair is a member of oneworld, the alliance of the world's leading airlines committed to providing the highest level of service and convenience to frequent international travellers.
About Skyscanner
- Skyscanner is a leading global travel search company, providing free search of flights, hotels and car hire around the world
- Founded in 2003, Skyscanner helps over 50 million people each month to find their travel options
- Skyscanner is available in 30 languages
- Skyscanner’s highly-rated free mobile app has been downloaded over 50 million times
- Skyscanner employs over 800 staff and has ten offices across the world: Barcelona, Beijing, Budapest, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Miami, Shenzhen, Singapore and Sofia
- Skyscanner is part of the Ctrip group
For more information, please visit partners.skyscanner.net/
About Amadeus
Amadeus is a leading provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (e.g. airlines, hotels, rail and ferry operators, etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and travel management companies). The Amadeus group employs around 14,000 people worldwide, across central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters), Nice (development) and Erding (operations), as well as over 70 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations globally and has a presence in more than 190 countries. The group operates a transaction-based business model. Amadeus is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under the symbol "AMS.MC" and is a component of the IBEX 35 index.
To find out more about Amadeus please visit www.amadeus.com, and www.amadeus.com/blog for more on the travel industry.