Ai Video: Japan Airlines gears up for retailing and NDC

How can airlines that haven’t really adopted a sophisticated approach to retailing and ancillary sales gear up for the same? Is NDC emerging as a viable option to offer legacy airlines the framework, based on XML standards, to match the “LCC” approach to unbundling or ancillary sales?

As a carrier from Asia, Japan Airlines considers NDC to be an opportunity to position itself as a premium carrier that has the capability of delivering a variety of products that suits the needs of the customers. The airline has formed a cross-functional team, says Akira Mitsumasu, VP, Marketing & Strategy, Asia & Oceania Region, Japan Airlines.

“Being a full-service carrier, we just don’t want to unbundle things (for the sake of it) and sell them. It could be a leisure traveller or a business traveller (even a same person travelling on different occasions/ trips), it’s about identifying a need and then presenting with relevant options,” he says.

According to Mitsumasu, as an organization, Japan Airlines is gearing up for retailing and is open to fine-tuning their distribution strategy as well, including being open to the option of direct connectivity and looking beyond traditional means of airline distribution.

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