Emirates will offer exclusive rich content and services for travel agent partners on its NDC-enabled direct connect platform, Emirates Gateway, starting from July 1, 2021. A surcharge on all bookings made via Global Distribution Systems (GDS) will also kick in on the same day.

This follows the launch of Emirates Gateway in October last year, and marks a milestone in Emirates’ plans to cater a dynamic marketplace by providing trade partners with a choice of connection options and differentiated products and benefits across channels.

Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Our goal is to empower our trade partners to deliver even better customer experiences, and we are pleased to introduce the next batch of new exclusive features and benefits for them on Emirates Gateway, which was launched to address the limitations of current legacy systems and provide a wide range of additional content and options for agents.

“We are heartened by the support and positive feedback that we’ve received from our trade and GDS partners to date. Emirates firmly believes in healthy, long-term relationships with all players in the travel eco-system, and we will continue to work hard to nurture the relationships that we’ve built through the years by providing great value and service.”

Agencies not signed up to the Emirates Gateway can continue to access Emirates’ EDIFACT – legacy content through the airline’s GDS partners Amadeus, Travelport, Travelsky, Infini and Sirena. However, to mitigate the higher cost Emirates incurs through GDS distribution, from July 1, 2021, bookings made via GDS will incur a distribution surcharge ranging between $14 and $25 per ticket depending on sector length.

Emirates is working closely with interested trade partners to bring them onboard the Emirates Gateway, which provides access to the widest range of Emirates fare products including exclusive content not available in the indirect channels, and where bookings will not incur a distribution surcharge.

From July 1, 2021, the following NDC content will be available to agents, via Emirates Gateway:

• Access to differentiated ticket pricing such as dedicated promotional fares and pre-sales

• Ability to sell excess baggage, enabling enhanced customer experience

• Access to rich content

• Differentiated pricing for select ancillary services

• Faster access to new ancillary products

Emirates Gateway content can be accessed through Emirates Booking Portal, Emirates Gateway Direct, which provides access to Emirates content through IATA standard NDC APIs, allowing trade partners to build applications that meet their needs, and Emirates Gateway Sync, a facilitated link to Emirates products and services provided by industry leading, IATA registered, Emirates certified technology partners.