A consortium of advanced airline adopters (the Airline Retailing Consortium) was created in tandem with the establishment of the Modern Airline Retailing program. The participating airlines have dedicated subject matter experts with the objective to support the acceleration of the industry transition to a world of 100% Offers and Orders.

This page is dedicated to the introduction of the Airline Retailing Consortium member airlines and their activities across key workstreams, aimed at supporting the industry transition to Modern Airline Retailing.

Accelerating the industry transition to Modern Airline Retailing

Consortium Members

  • Air Canada logo
  • British  Airways logo
  • Finnair logo

1. Business Case V.1.0

Modern Airline Retailing - A Business Case V.1.0: this document focuses on the next phase of the journey to Modern Airline Retailing, which entails a significant transformation of the IT infrastructure and underlying processes, in order to enable airlines to fully retail their products without constraints.

New! - Business Case and Decision Drivers: Learnings from the Leaders: developed as a sequel to the April 2023 release "Modern Airline Retailing — A Business Case", the document expands on particular aspects of the business case content, while also providing insights into how to engage senior management.  

2. Business Reference Architecture

The first version of the Business Reference Architecture was developed by the Airline Retailing Consortium, supported by IATA's industry architects, with the objective to support the move to a world of 100% Offers and Orders. 

3. Airline Transition 

IT Provider Readiness and Airline Transition Pathways: the latest output of the Consortium's work presents the findings of extensive research with 15 IT Providers, assessing their commitment and readiness to roll out a new generation of solutions, as well as timeframes to transition to 100% Offers and Orders.

New! - IT Provider Readiness and Roadmap to 100% Offers & Orders: released in October 2024, the document serves as a sequel to the 2023 release and provides an IT provider readiness status update and transition roadmap.

4. Industry Transition

Successful Airline Retailing Requires Industry Partnerships: developed by BCG in collaboration with the Airline Retailing Consortium and IATA, the study capitalizes on inputs from over 20 senior executives across the broader travel ecosystem and outlines the most important action points that the ecosystem players should focus on, as they engage in the journey to Offers and Orders.

5. Procurement Considerations (RFI framework)

MAR - Retailing Platform Procurement Considerations: serves as a guide for airlines in the procurement process of a modern and modular platform for airline retailing, based on 100% Offers and Orders. It outlines key principles, considerations, and business requirements to be taken into account by airlines when evaluating vendors and their solutions. 

6. Delivering with Orders

Leveraging Orders and Digital Identity to Enhance the Customer Travel Experience

 

  • The journey to modern airline retailing, published in October 2023, provides a concise yet comprehensive overview of the Consortium's work to date, with a  deeper dive in the latest release (IT Provider readiness and airline transition pathways), and its value as a concrete  guidance tool for "the next leg of the journey to a world of 100% Offers and Orders".
  • The Modern Airline Retailing program and the role of the Consortium discussed in the 2023 IATA Annual Review.
  • Modern airline retailing is gathering momentum and promises significant benefits for airlines. Accelerating toward 100% Offers and Orders, published in May 2023, provides an overview of the industry's progress toward greater customer centricity and value creation.
  • IATA announces the establishment of the Modern Airline Retailing Program and the creation of the Airline Retailing Consortium (December 2022).  
  • The Chair of the IATA Distribution Advisory Council (DAC) discusses the role that the Airline Retailing Consortium is playing in supporting the transition to 100% Offers and Orders(June 2023)

Hear from members of the Consortium as they discuss their experiences, challenges and opportunities, in the transition to Modern Airline Retailing.

Watch the on-demand episodes of the Modern Airline Retailing - the Tangibles webinar series, for a deeper dive into specific areas of focus, such as the business case for Modern Airline Retailing, servicing in corporate travel management, and more.

Modern Airline Retailing - the Tangibles series:

 

 

Airline Retailing Soundbites featuring Consortium members:

 

 

Member Quotes

 

"As part of Air India’s massive transformation journey, we are looking for every opportunity to delight our guests and simultaneously drive our revenue performance. 100% Offers and Orders will help Air India and the airline industry bring to fruition powerful concepts and techniques that have helped other consumer-facing industries – such as retail – plan, source, merchandize, price, and service their offerings better. We anticipate this to result in substantial incremental value for everyone in the airline value chain. We are excited to be part of this initiative and look forward to contributing to this important transformative journey for our industry."

Dr. Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Air India Group

 

“Modern airline retailing simplifies the customer experience and brings our elevated products and services to even more customers. Completing the transition to 100% Offers and Orders will not be an easy task. However, we are confident in our ability to achieve this outcome for our customers as our industry has a proven track record of complex challenges and delivering innovative solutions. We are excited to work with all of our partners, whether it is a global distribution company, travel retailer and corporate customer, to leverage the power of innovative technology to enable a better experience for our customers.”

Neil Geurin, Managing Director of Modern Retailing, American Airlines

 

"At Finnair, we firmly believe that the future of our industry lies in modern retailing, powered by the complete integration of 100% Offers and Orders. This paradigm shift is not merely a transition; it's a strategic leap into a new era of passenger-focused travel. We are committed to delivering a more personalized, responsive, and seamless experience for our passengers, turning every touchpoint with our airline into an opportunity to excel, and with the Airline Retailing Consortium, we are at the forefront of this transformation."

Antti Tolvanen, Senior Vice President, Network and Revenue Management, Finnair

 

“We are delighted to be a part of the transformation journey towards modern retailing. The Consortium will engage not only airlines but also tech partners who share the same vision. Oman Air strongly believes that 100 % Offers and Orders along with ONE Order would benefit the entire travel industry by modernizing legacy processes."

Umesh Chhiber, Acting Chief Commercial Officer, Oman Air  

 

"As a 5-star airline, we aim to continue to deliver 5-star experiences and services to our customers. We believe that modern airline retailing is critical in driving new opportunities to delight our customers. As a member of the IATA Airline Retailing Consortium, we must continue to challenge ourselves and our industry colleagues to drive more collaboration and to go through this transformation at a faster pace. Our industry has always been seen as an innovator and leader in technology, whether that be to improve customer experience or to optimize industry revenues. Without this transformation, we risk falling behind many other industries who have embraced digital and retail capabilities.”

Matthew Mcgilvray, SVP Revenue Management, Qatar Airways

 

"Singapore Airlines is committed to the retail transformation journey, ensuring that our elevated products and services reach our customers across all channels and that our customers also enjoy an seamless customer experience across touchpoints. This is not a simple journey and the work of the Consortium airlines aims to establish guiding pathways for all industry stakeholders, ensuring that the good progress with NDC accelerates further."

Bryan Koh, Divisional Vice President, E-Commerce and Distribution, Singapore Airlines

 

"As industry leaders, the Lufthansa Group airlines have driven and joined the IATA Airline Retailing Consortium as founding members. We are firmly committed to the new IATA Modern Airline Retailing program and believe that the consortium will be instrumental in achieving its goals, together as an industry. This mindset change in collaboration and synergy creation is new to our industry and it will pave the way for a much-needed technological leap leaving behind legacy systems. Hence, the Lufthansa Group airlines double down on our vision towards truly modern airline retailing to create real value for our customers." 

Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Chief Commercial Officer and Member of the Board, Swiss International Air Lines

 

“With the Modern Airline Retailing initiative, we are enthusiastic about the potential benefits it offers to our industry. We've observed that the Consortium has generated significant momentum, benefiting not only airlines and IT vendors but also other stakeholders, which we wholeheartedly embrace. Being a part of this initiative brings us great satisfaction, as we believe it will not only help us meet customer expectations within the target structure but also lead us toward a more streamlined and integrated modern framework.”

Ahmet Olmuştur, Chief Marketing Officer, Turkish Airlines

 

"Modern Airline Retailing's focus on the concept of customer centricity contributes to enhancing the airline customer experience, which also requires the modernization of our industry's retailing techniques. The ambition of 100% Offers and Orders poses big challenges for traditional full-service carriers. But we are very motivated to bring this industry vision to life, both in terms of meeting the differentiated needs of our travelers and in terms of capturing more revenue. We can see the entire industry moving in this direction, each on its individual path of digital transformation and adoption. We are so glad to be a member of the Modern Airline Retailing Consortium and support the digital retailing transformation of our industry through the Consortium's work."

Zhang Yousong, General Manager, Commercial Steering Committee, Xiamen Airlines