United Airlines and Travelport Form Long-Term Retailing Partnership
United Airlines and Travelport have entered into a strategic relationship that introduces a new model of collaboration between an airline and a multi-source content provider. This agreement represents a shift from the traditional airline–distributor approach, with teams from both companies working closely to develop new capabilities and functionality for agency and corporate buying communities.
As part of the partnership, Travelport will receive early access to United’s NDC technology roadmap along with co-development opportunities. This will help ensure that travel counsellors can use advanced merchandising tools across the Travelport platform.
Andrew Nocella, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of United Airlines, said: “Our updated model for cooperation with Travelport aims to ensure that United’s travel agencies and corporate buyers have access to a wider range of retail travel solutions. Together, we are working toward greater transparency, flexibility, and value in air travel distribution.”
Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer of Travelport, added: “This long-term relationship with United Airlines marks an important step in advancing airline retailing for agencies and corporations. By combining United’s NDC capabilities with the Travelport platform, we are creating broader content options, improved service solutions, and more choice for customers.”
Early Access, Co-Development and Online Booking Tool Enhancements
Travelport will gain early access to United’s NDC-enabled extras, with both companies cooperating on the co-development of new features intended for faster market rollout.
Technical Collaboration: United and Travelport will deepen their technical collaboration, dedicating development resources to new capabilities for Travelport+, a retailing platform designed for travel agencies that offers improved search, content access, and automation.
Accelerated Feature Deployment: The partnership enables quicker deployment of new functionality to travel agencies and corporate buyers through Travelport+.
Priority Development: United will allocate development resources to partners that can progress efficiently, with Travelport as a key collaborator.
Online Booking Tool Enhancements: United will extend its portfolio of Online Booking Tool (OBT) extras to Travelport’s Deem OBT platform. Over time, this will introduce additional features, such as pooling unused United travel credits, direct enrollment in United MileagePlus, and using United Jetstream amenity funds to pay for ancillary purchases. These enhancements will also be available in Travelport+ for travel counsellors.
The rollout will occur in phases, with initial capabilities planned for early 2026 and further features to be introduced throughout the year. United will provide specialized support teams to assist travel agencies during the transition, including updated NDC functionality to support smoother adoption of new technologies.
This multi-year relationship reflects the shared commitment of both organizations to advancing airline retailing while supporting the ongoing role of travel agencies and travel management companies.
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