Sitz der Gesellschaft / Corporate Headquarters: 

 Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft, Köln 

 Registereintragung / Registration: Amtsgericht Köln HRB 2168 

 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats / Chairman of the Supervisory Board: 

 Dipl.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Jürgen Weber 

 Vorstand / Executive Board: 

 Dr. Christoph Franz (Vorsitzender/Chairman), Stephan Gemkow, Stefan Lauer 

Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft 

Lufthansa Aviation Center, Airportring, 60546 Frankfurt/Main 

 Ihre Zeichen 

Your Ref. 

Unsere Zeichen/ 

Our Ref. 

Datum 

Date 

Telefon 

Telephone 

United States Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

United States of America 

 AvB 28.03.2013 +49 69 696- 

93923 

Application for approval of an agreement (Resolution 787) by the n 787) by the 

International Air Transport Association (IATA), filed on 11 March 2013 ed on 11 March 2013 

“To Whom It May Concern” 

Dear Sirs 

We are writing you with respect to the application for approval of an agreement 

(Resolution 787) by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), filed on 11 

March 2013. 

The first point of NDC and Resolution 787 that I would like to draw your 

attention to is innovation. Resolution 787 is focused solely on enabling the airline 

industry to jointly modernize a data transmission standard. That in turn will enable 

airlines to present a richer product offering to consumers through indirect channels, 

i.e. the travel agencies. The industry calls this new capability “New Distribution 

Capability” or NDC. 

Today, airlines are unable to deliver their full product offerings to consumers through 

the indirect channels because the existing distribution network is based on 

technology that was developed prior to the Internet. This in turn undermines travel 

agents’ ability to meet the needs of their customers, who, in fact receive dynamic and 

comprehensive offers on the airline websites today. NDC will allow airlines to make 

the same dynamic and comprehensive offers through travel agencies – online and 

offline. 

Second I would like to highlight the clearly positive effect of NDC on 

competition. If adopted widely, NDC will result in airlines having to compete directly 

with one another on service offerings as well as price (and not just price, as in 

today’s indirect distribution environment). Consumers will be able to pick elements 

they want out of an airline offer through a menu of options, which can then be 

compared to similar offers by other airlines. 
2

In fact, NDC will lead to stronger competition, both in the airline industry, as well as 

among IT service providers by lowering market entry barriers, thus giving the travel 

trade more opportunities in the way they sell airline products to consumers. 

Further, Resolution 787 does not oblige airlines to make dynamic offers to 

consumers. Airlines may well decide to continue working in the current distribution 

model. Resolution 787 is to develop an industry messaging standard that enables 

airlines to make dynamic offers in the indirect channels. At the same time it enables 

travel agents and IT service providers to process dynamic offers through one single 

XML interface scheme, i.e. only one XML schema for all airlines, other than every 

airline developing its own proprietary interface. Clearly, Resolution 787 does not 

oblige airlines to make dynamic offers, it states that all airlines that whish to make 

dynamic offers to consumers through travel agencies will use the same XML 

interface standard in order to make industry adoption more efficient. 

One last item that needs some reckoning is data privacy. Resolution 787 and the 

NDC that it enables do not violate airline customers’ privacy rights. Customers will 

not be required to provide any more information about them than is required in the 

current shopping process. 

Let me summarize the value proposition for the industry: 

Consumers: Approval of Resolution 787 will facilitate industry efforts to provide 

consumers with the ability to receive, build, compare and purchase fully personalized 

offers via all channels seamlessly. 

Airlines: Approval of Resolution 787 will give airlines the option to present their 

offers in a manner in which they want them presented to customers via indirect 

channels. It will also result in improved time to market with new products and 

services while leading to lower distribution costs. 

Travel agents: Approval of Resolution 787 will enable airlines to provide travel 

agents more content and a greater ability to create value for their customers. 

Technology providers: Approval of Resolution 787 will enable technology service 

providers to aggregate and display richer content from airlines and remove a major 

barrier to innovation in the existing distribution model. A global XML based standard 

will allow technology providers to make the investments to support airline distribution 

and customers with confidence they will be compatible with the industry. 

Lufthansa strongly supports NDC and Resolution 787.

Jörg Hennemann 

Vice President Revenue Management & Distribution