About NDC

NDC(New Distribution Capability) is a travel industry-supported program (NDC
Program) launched by International Air Transport Association (IATA) for the development and market adoption of a new, XML-based data transmission standard (NDC Standard). The NDC Standard enhances the capability of communications between airlines and travel agents, and allows airlines to provide partners with rich product information, personalized products, and holistic functions, thereby creating value for passengers.

Development of NDC at CSAir

  • 2013.04
  • In April 2013, CSAir became one of the first airlines in the world to participate in the NDC Program, and contributed brilliant opinions, ideas and practical project experience to the implementation of the NDC Standard, winning the recognition from IATA headquarters.
  • In 2015, CSAir completed the second pilot project and received a letter of commendation from IATA. The Association recognized CSAir’s efforts and significant contribution, and acclaimed CSAir as the very first airline in the world to independently design and implement NDC.
  • 2015
  • 2016.05
  • In May 2016, CSAir was among the first to achieve the NDC Level-3 certification – the highest certification level at the time.
  • In 2017, CSAir upgraded NDC to version 17.2 (the version for large-scale commercial application) and implemented NDC in the sales agency system of CSAir. CSAir is the only airline in China that puts NDC into actual production, as well as the first airline in the country to receive the certification of multiple NDC versions.
  • 2017
  • 2017.09
  • In September 2017, CSAir began piloting the overseas NDC Direct Connect sales model, enabling functions such as ticket sales, cancellation, changes, and flight delay notifications.
  • In December 2017, CSAir became a member of the IATA NDC Leaderboard.
  • 2017.12
  • 2018.04
  • In April 2018, CSAir issued the first NDC overseas ticket, which verified the feasibility of Direct Connect overseas.
  • In September 2018, CSAir realized sales of NDC tickets with domestic partners for the first time, hitting a monthly ticket sales of over 10 million.
  • 2018.09
  • 2018.12
  • In December 2018, CSAir’s NDC system obtained the authoritative certification by the National Copyright Administration of China, making it the first airline in the country to independently develop NDC and obtain certification.
  • In March 2019, CSAir successfully obtained the NDC Level 4 (Full Offer & Order Management) certification granted by IATA, making it the fifth airline in the world and the first airline in China to reach this level of certification.
  • 2019.03

Functions Supported by CSAir's NDC API

As an NDC Level-3 certified airline, China Southern Airlines has built the NDC API covering its distribution cycle, i.e. query, booking, payment, ticketing, cancellation, rescheduling, seat selection and other services. In the future, it is going to support value-added services such as class upgrade, meals, lounges, paid-for seats, pre-paid baggage, and in-flight Wi-Fi.

Advantages of NDC Partnership

NDC enables our partners to obtain abundant product display information from China Southern Airlines in real time, acquire personalized products, and provide passengers with whole-process services.

Abundant product information display

The traditional distribution model is mainly based on product price
information, but lacks differentiated product content display,
resulting in pure price comparison and insufficient awareness of
service value among consumers; NDC allows partners to obtain
product content, product prices, differentiated services for different
products (such as mileage accrual) from China Southern Airlines in
real time, while supporting diverse display methods including text,
images, and videos to enhance passengers’ value perception and
purchase experience.

Acquire personalized products

Through NDC, CSAir directly outputs its diversified products and
services to partners, such as key account rates, B2C freight rates,
"air + x" products, dynamic fares and other ticket products, as well
as value-added services including class upgrade, meals, lounges,
paid-for seats, pre-paid baggage, and in-flight Wi-Fi, among
others; and meanwhile offers personalized fares and products
according to the types of partners and passengers, further
enriching product categories and jointly creating value for
passengers.

Provide whole-process
services for passengers

Relying on NDC, CSAir provides partners with whole-process
products and services covering ticket query, order placement,
payment, ticketing, as well as ticket cancellation, changes,
and sales of value-added service at the aftersales section,
so that partners could deliver one-stop services to passengers.

At the current stage, the NDC partnership launched by China Southern Airlines is based on the IATA NDC 17.2 version. In the future, while following IATA's NDC planning, CSAir will work with partners to create
richer content, more differentiated and diversified products, and a smoother user experience in NDC,
aiming to bring more value to our common customers.
For those interested in reaching NDC partnership with China Southern Airlines, please click the link below
to download the registration form, fill it out and send it to this email: julingbing@csair.com. We will contact you further after receiving it. After confirming the cooperation intention, you will sign a cooperation agreement with China Southern Airlines, start technical docking to finally launch the program.
For business trips, please click on “Corporate Clients Registration Form Download”.
For ticket sales cooperation, please click “Air Ticket Sales Registration Form Download”.
You may also contact our business specialists directly:
Mr.Ju julingbing@csair.com
Mr.Zhou zhouqiangbin@csair.com