Press Releases
7 mins read 
Miami, USA – July 30, 2026
18-Organization Industry Collaboration Produces Practical Solutions to Accelerate NDC Adoption Across Corporate Travel
One year after launching at the GBTA Convention with founding participants Accelya, Amex GBT, and Sabre, NDC FastTrack has grown into an 18-organization industry collaboration focused on solving the practical challenges limiting New Distribution Capability (NDC) adoption across corporate travel.
Established to provide a collaborative forum where travel sellers, technology providers, and industry organizations could identify, prioritize, and address real-world adoption barriers, NDC FastTrack has evolved into a trusted working group dedicated to delivering practical improvements that accelerate Modern Airline Retailing.
Over the past 12 months, participants have invested hundreds of hours through monthly meetings, in-person workshops, and dedicated workstreams tackling some of the industry’s most pressing challenges. Today, the initiative brings together experienced leaders from across corporate travel management, travel technology, airlines, and industry organizations who are committed to improving the NDC experience for the entire travel ecosystem.
Current participating organizations include Accelya, Amadeus, Amex GBT, ARC, ATPCO, BCD Travel, CTM (Corporate Travel Management), Direct Travel, Emburse, Farenexus, FCM Travel, Fox World Travel, Navan, Sabre, SAP Concur, Spotnana, Travelfusion, and Travelport.
“Over the years, I’ve participated in several industry working groups, and I’ve never seen such a cohesive, productive, and focused group come together around a single purpose,” said Jim Davidson, Vice Chairman of Accelya. “Everyone shows up ready to participate, solve real NDC challenges, and help close the gaps limiting adoption. I often joke that if I were ever to start a new business in this industry, this is the team I’d want beside me. The depth of knowledge and experience within this group is truly remarkable.“
Rather than serving as a discussion forum alone, NDC FastTrack organizes participants into focused workstreams that address specific operational and technical challenges identified collectively by the group. Each workstream is coordinated by an Accelya NDC product expert and is designed to produce practical recommendations that can be implemented across the industry.
“Our goal isn’t simply to discuss industry challenges-it’s to solve them,” said Tye Radcliffe, Chief Customer Success Officer at Accelya. “Each workstream focuses on practical improvements that make NDC easier to adopt, easier to automate, and easier to scale. Once one challenge is addressed, the group identifies the next priority, creating a continuous cycle of industry-driven innovation.”
One of the first workstreams has focused on deferred payment capabilities across the end-to-end NDC booking and servicing lifecycle. The group identified several recommendations to help travel sellers and corporate travel management companies secure bookings, seats, ancillaries, and exchange transactions while completing approvals, policy validation, quality control, and automated ticketing at a later stage.
Key recommendations include:
- Standardizing Payment Time Limit (TTL) communication across the booking lifecycle.
- Introducing proactive Order Change Notifications (OCN) for impending payment expirations.
- Supporting secure storage of payment credentials for later fulfillment.
- Delivering consistent deferred payment functionality across booking, servicing, ancillary sales, and exchange workflows.
These recommendations are expected to reduce manual intervention, improve automation, increase operational efficiency, and accelerate NDC adoption for airlines, travel sellers, and corporate travel programs. The enhancements are being incorporated into industry product roadmaps and shared with IATA to help inform broader industry adoption and standards development.
Industry Perspectives
Participants from across the travel ecosystem highlighted the value of NDC FastTrack as a forum for practical collaboration and meaningful industry progress.
“NDC FastTrack brings together organizations from across the travel ecosystem to focus on practical improvements. It’s encouraging to see participants working together toward common goals that benefit the broader industry.”
– Nikki Ping, Global Manager, Travel Distribution, FCM Travel
“Collaboration across the travel ecosystem is essential to advancing NDC. We’re pleased to participate in discussions that help improve the experience for travelers, travel managers, and the broader industry.”
– Charlie Sultan, President of Concur Travel, SAP Concur
“NDC FastTrack has created an environment where participants can openly share experiences, discuss practical challenges, and work collaboratively toward improving NDC for corporate travel. We appreciate the opportunity to contribute to an initiative focused on advancing the industry together for the benefit of our customers.”
– Kate Rettig, Airline Distribution Manager, AmexGBT
“Industry collaboration has always been an important driver of progress. NDC FastTrack, like ARC’s NDC Advancement Working Group, creates an environment where participants can work together to identify opportunities to benefit and support the continued evolution of modern airline retailing.”
– Paige Blunt, Senior Manager, Direct Connect and ONE Order, ARC
“Participating in NDC FastTrack has provided an opportunity to contribute the travel management company perspective while learning from airlines and technology partners. That collaboration is essential as the industry continues to evolve.”
– Jared Bachman, Vice President of Travel Technology, Fox World Travel
“Open collaboration and practical problem-solving are central to NDC FastTrack. We value the opportunity to work alongside industry peers to help improve NDC capabilities across the ecosystem.”
– Eytan Bicaci, Vice President Commercial, Travelfusion
“NDC FastTrack has created a unique forum where industry participants can align on common challenges, share practical experience, and help drive meaningful improvements across airline retailing.”
– Seth Dietz, Senior Technology Executive, Travelport
“This initiative demonstrates what can be accomplished when leading industry players collaborate around shared challenges and meaningful outcomes. NDC FastTrack provides a constructive forum for participants to exchange ideas, accelerate progress, and develop solutions that benefit the entire travel ecosystem.”
– Marc Lozier, Sr. Product Manager, Emburse
“NDC has matured considerably in recent years, and the time is right to accelerate adoption. Participating in NDC FastTrack allows us to help drive practical technology solutions that move the travel industry forward at a faster pace.”
– Seth Anagnostis, Senior Director, Spotnana
“At Direct Travel, we believe the best ideas emerge when the industry works together to solve shared challenges. We’re proud to contribute to initiatives like NDC FastTrack that help move managed travel forward by making it easier for travel managers to access the content, capabilities, and support they need to deliver exceptional travel programs.”
– Christine Sikes, Chief Operating Officer, Direct Travel
“NDC’s shared industry challenges are best solved when airlines, sellers, and technology providers align around practical, scalable approaches to implementation. As the neutral industry body supporting standards across airlines and systems, ATPCO is focused on reducing duplication and fragmentation. Initiatives like Accelya’s NDC FastTrack help move the conversation toward more efficient, consistent NDC adoption industry-wide, which is something ATPCO supports. ATPCO is also working to align the industry activities around NDC enablement to make the whole industry more efficient in solving these challenges.”
– Graham Wareham, Director, Partnerships and Business Development at ATPCO
As NDC FastTrack enters its second year, participants will continue identifying new priority challenges through collaborative workstreams designed to accelerate Modern Airline Retailing and improve outcomes for airlines, travel sellers, technology providers, and corporate travel buyers. By bringing together diverse expertise and turning ideas into practical solutions, NDC FastTrack remains committed to helping the travel industry move from discussion to execution – making NDC easier to adopt, easier to scale, and ultimately more valuable for the entire travel ecosystem.
About Accelya
Accelya is a global leader in airline software, powering over 200 airlines with an open, modular platform that enables them to drive growth, enhance customer experiences, and take control of their retailing. Our FLX ONE platform empowers airlines to transform across Offer, Order, Settlement, and Delivery (OOSD), in line with IATA’s standards for modern retailing.
With a cloud-native infrastructure powered by AWS, Accelya processes more than 30 billion unique offers daily, and settles over $100 billion annually. Our solutions span the entire retail lifecycle, both above and below the wing, giving airlines the flexibility, performance, scalability, and reliability they need.
Backed by 40 years of industry expertise, long-term support from Vista Equity Partners, and 2,500 employees across 10 global offices, Accelya has the scale and proven track record to meet the evolving needs of the airline industry.
For more information, visit the Accelya Website.
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