FCM Travel Asia’s technology capabilities and NDC readiness are well ahead of the pack, thanks to a US$200 million investment by parent company Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) in 2019.
Bertrand Saillet, managing director, FCM Travel Asia, who spoke at the CTC Singapore Corporate Travel Summit in June, told TTGmice it was the “first global TMC to attain IATA Level 4 NDC certification”, and is able “to provide Full Offer and Order Management, including booking, servicing, and flight disruption handling”.
He added FCM was also among the first global TMCs to be included in the IATA Airline Retailing Maturity index, and was launch partner of Amadeus’s NDC-X programme and Sabre’s Beyond NDC programme.
FCM was “‘live’ delivering NDC content to corporate customers and was driving pilot programmes in partnership with customers, airlines and OBTs (online booking tools) to discover the best solutions for our wider customer base and create an industry standard”, noted Saillet.
Since 2019, FCTG has made several acquisitions. In 2019, it acquired SAM. Short for Smart Assistant for Mobile, it is available 24/7 and includes an instant live chat with an agent. In 2020, FCTG acquired San Francisco-based WhereTo, an enterprise travel platform and technology company that simplifies and improves business travel planning for corporations.
In 2021, FCTG acquired FCM Extension. Previously known as Shep, the Texas-based software company provides a browser-extension-based communication platform for MNCs. In the same year, FCM Platform, a new proprietary platform was developed to target customers’ pain points with current and legacy corporate travel technology.
He added that the group’s technology investment was addressing the more complex air distribution environment due to the different strategies implemented by the airlines and the acceleration of NDC in Asia.
The omnichannel, Saillet continued, was designed to address six key pillars: a globally consistent booking experience; always available travel assistance; traveller safety and wellbeing support; sustainability; AI-powered reporting and savings, and flexible integration capabilities.
FCTG also took a majority stake in Dubai-based travel firm TPConnects Technologies in 2022 to offer a wider choice of airfares to clients by aggregating airline content from multiple sources, including GDSs, low-cost carriers (LCCs) and the growing number of NDC-enabled booking channels.
In understanding different market needs, FCM has also developed its very own platform for China. Meanwhile in India, FCM Booking was developed and deployed as a proprietary online booking tool in 2022 to cater to the uniqueness and specificity of the market, allowing access to international content, and a wide variety of relevant domestic content including local LCCs and rail.
