HFTP News
September 7, 20174 min read

OpenTravel at the IATA NDC Hackathon 2017, Silicon Valley

OpenTravel at the IATA NDC Hackathon 2017, Silicon Valley — Photo by HFTP
Events & Conferences Travel Technology Innovation Partnerships, Mergers & Acquisitions

OpenTravel Alliance (OpenTravel) attended and participated in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) New Distribution Capability (NDC) Hackathon from August 25-27, 2017 at the LinkedIn headquarters in Sunnyvale, California USA. The IATA NDC Hackathon hosted about 20 participating teams, and consisted of a 28-hour coding experience, on-site workshops and access to industry mentors. Sandy Angel, specifications manager at OpenTravel, served as a mentor to the participating hackers.

As part of the NDC program, IATA develops and maintains a suite of XML messages supporting airline distribution. APIs were provided by companies including LinksRez, IBM, SITA, LinkedIn and others. The hackathon asked participants to use at least one of the IATA APIs, and solve at least one of three challenges presented around travel. LinksRez, a sponsor of the OpenTravel 2.0 Golf Standards, provided several APIs that implemented the OpenTravel and HTNG standards for hotel as well as the OpenTravel standards for ground transportation and golf as part of their participation at the event. Two of the teams won a first place prize using the LinkRez, OpenTravel and HTNG standards-based APIs. All winning teams will now enter an incubation phase to further elaborate their ideas, and potentially present their application at a future IATA event.

"Hackathons are a great example of how NDC, by modernizing the communication protocols between airlines and travel agents, create opportunities for new entrant developers to build solutions around IATA standards," said Yanik Hoyles, NDC program director at IATA. "On this path towards innovation, we are glad to have travel partners offering their APIs at our Hackathons, and supporting us on the journey. We are looking forward to our third event in 2017 at École Polytechnique in Paris (20-22 October) where LinksRez will become a gold sponsor."

"It was important to OpenTravel to participate in the IATA NDC 2017 Hackathon as we did in Dublin," said OpenTravel CEO Mike Tinkey. "The event served as part of our ongoing work to expand collaboration with IATA NDC. Connecting the consumer for a seamless travel experience end-to-end with their business and leisure travel is a goal of both organizations."

For more information on OpenTravel Alliance's 2.0 Standards, please contact Sandy Angel ([email protected]) of OpenTravel Alliance.

About OpenTravel Alliance

OpenTravel Alliance is passionate about solving the problems inherent with connecting multiple systems within the complex travel distribution arena. Our mission is to enable the future of travel by driving the evolving digital experience for consumers. OpenTravel Alliance creates, expands and drives adoption of open specifications, including but not limited to the use of XML and JSON, for the electronic exchange of business information among all sectors of the travel industry.

OpenTravel Alliance is comprised of companies representing airlines, car rental firms, hotels, cruise lines, railways, leisure suppliers, service providers, tour operators, travel agencies, solutions providers, technology companies and distributors. Tens of thousands of OpenTravel Alliance message structures are in use, carrying tens of millions of messages between trading partners every day.

OpenTravel Alliance is a not-for-profit trade association, founded in 1999 by travel companies, with a primary focus on the creation of electronic message structures to facilitate communication between the disparate systems in the global travel industry. For more information on OpenTravel Alliance membership, new products, or projects, please visit http://www.opentravel.org or email [email protected].

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