Get Started with Airline Retailing

Modern Airline Retailing (MAR) refers to the advanced approach to air travel distribution and servicing, focusing on transforming traditional methods into a more streamlined and customer-centric model. 

The MAR initiative was officially established by IATA in December 2022, with the objective of supporting and accelerating the adoption of modern retailing practices by airlines and their value chain partners. The goal is to move towards a world of "Offers and Orders only", away from legacy processes, systems, and artifacts, thus enabling greater value creation opportunities for customers and value chain partners alike.  

The Modern Airline Retailing initiative is built on three key pillars:

• Selling with Offers: providing travelers with more types of offers, more choice and greater transparency. This is supported by the NDC standard and includes advancements in personalization, dynamic  pricing, third-party content bundling, and digital payments.
• Fulfilling with Orders: utilizing a suite of industry standards based on the ONE Order initiative. This enables the creation of a single order for travelers, replacing today’s multiple reference numbers and documents (such as PNRs, e-tickets, and EMDs). The result is a much smoother experience for shopping, servicing and especially during disruptions.
• Digital Identity: enabling a seamless and customer-centric travel experience. Digital identity, supported by biometrics, allows for the digitalization of admissibility processes before check-in and facilitates contactless interactions throughout the journey.

In a nutshell, MAR aims to solve the challenges posed by the legacy environment and is expected to lead to a more efficient travel management and experience, tailored to the individual needs of leisure and business travelers alike. 

The New Distribution Capability (NDC) and ONE Order standards preceded and paved the way for the MAR initiative. These standards, first available respectively in 2015 and 2018, were created to overcome the limitations of today’s traditional legacy technology and standards.

• NDC (New Distribution Capability): this standard revolutionizes how airlines create and distribute offers. By enabling more personalized and dynamic product offerings, NDC overcomes the limitations of traditional distribution systems. It allows airlines to present richer content and more tailored options to travelers, setting the stage for the broader modernization seen in MAR.
• ONE Order: building on NDC's capabilities, ONE Order simplifies the booking and fulfilment process by consolidating multiple records (like PNRs, e-tickets, and EMDs) into a single order. This streamlines the travel experience, making it more efficient and reducing complexity, especially during disruptions or itinerary changes.

In the context of MAR, NDC and ONE Order are foundational pillars that support the initiative's goals of creating a seamless, transparent, and personalized travel experience. They enable the industry to move towards a world of 100% Offers and Orders, which is believed to be the ultimate goal towards value creation and enhanced customer experience.

100% Offers and Orders is about simplifying and modernizing how air travel is sold and serviced—making it as seamless as customers expect. For travel sellers like TMCs, OTAs, and agents, this shift means moving away from fragmented legacy systems (PNRs, tickets, EMDs) to a unified model where all transactions are managed through Offers and Orders. This enables faster, more transparent shopping, easier servicing, and a consistent experience across channels.

Offers are dynamic, personalized bundles of flights and ancillaries; Orders consolidate everything into a single, streamlined record. This eliminates the need to juggle multiple systems or documents, especially during changes or disruptions. For sellers, it means greater efficiency, fewer manual workarounds, and the ability to deliver more relevant, value-added services to clients - all while staying aligned with how airlines are evolving their retailing strategies.

Airlines are modernizing fast - moving from legacy systems to dynamic, customer-centric retailing. While direct channels (like airline websites and apps) have seen major investment, the focus is now on transforming indirect channels through NDC APIs and the Offers and Orders model. This shift benefits the entire travel value chain, including TMCs and OTAs, by enabling consistent, streamlined servicing and richer content delivery across all touchpoints.

The transition to 100% Offers and Orders is a phased industry-wide journey. It hinges on four key areas: industry standards, airline readiness, airline IT capabilities, and the preparedness of partners like travel sellers. Some airlines are already leading the way by adopting Orders as the single source of truth, replacing PNRs and e-tickets. IATA continues to guide this evolution, ensuring all stakeholders are aligned and equipped to thrive in the new retailing landscape.

Find out more in the first Industry Transition Roadmap towards Offers and Orders.

To succeed in the Offers and Orders environment, travel sellers - especially TMCs - need a modern set of business capabilities that support end-to-end order management. This includes robust operations and servicing tools to handle disruptions and notifications, as well as offer management systems that aggregate and harmonize content from airlines, rail, and hotels. Order creation, storage, and payment processing must be seamless, supporting both traditional and modern payment methods through integrated gateways.

Equally important are analytics, channel management, and back-office automation. Sellers need tools to extract insights from offer and order data, interfaces for both agents and travelers (including chatbots and OBTs), and systems that automate invoicing, reporting, reconciliation, and financial accounting. Duty of Care capabilities must also be in place to track and manage traveler safety in real time. Together, these capabilities enable travel sellers to deliver a streamlined, scalable, and customer-centric experience in the new airline retailing landscape.

The document Modern Airline Retailing: TMC Business Capabilities needed in a context of Offers and Orders outlines essential capabilities for Travel Management Companies (TMCs) to process airline orders effectively.

Not all GDS capabilities translate directly to NDC because NDC is built on a different, modern retailing framework. What a seller can do in an airline’s NDC channel depends on five key factors: the version of the NDC standard used, how the airline and partners have implemented it, how workflows and roles have adapted, the limitations of legacy systems, and commercial agreements. Each version of the NDC standard introduces new features and automation, but full functionality also depends on how well systems and processes across the value chain are aligned.

In short, gaps in capability are often not due to NDC itself, but to how it’s adopted and supported. Airlines may still rely on legacy infrastructure, or commercial strategies may limit content availability. Sellers, intermediaries, and tech providers must evolve together -- technically and operationally -- to unlock the full potential of NDC. Understanding these dimensions helps sellers identify the real root causes behind missing features and better engage with partners to resolve them.

Yes, NDC supports servicing, but its effectiveness depends on both the standard and how it’s implemented. The NDC schemas include core messages for servicing scenarios like changes, reissues, and notifications. Newer versions of the standard bring more robust capabilities and better customer experiences. However, these benefits are only realized when airlines and their partners adopt the latest versions and align their systems accordingly.

In practice, full servicing depends on the airline’s tech maturity and ecosystem readiness. Many airlines still operate with legacy systems (PNRs, tickets, EMDs), which must be synchronized with NDC’s Order structure until they fully adopt an Order Management System. Until then, servicing may be limited or inconsistent. True end-to-end servicing requires collaboration across the value chain -- sellers, aggregators, OBTs, and back-office providers all play a role in delivering a seamless experience.

No. There are many real-world examples, such as United Airlines, who are already delivering enhanced servicing through NDC. In fact, they’ve shared a real-world example of how their NDC capabilities are improving the experience for both travel sellers and travelers. From handling waivers to managing changes more efficiently, United demonstrates what’s possible when modern servicing is fully implemented.

Watch the full video interview with United to explore how the carrier is making NDC servicing work in practice.

Additional resource: Servicing in NDC: where are you?