NDC in Corporate Air Travel Procurement: What Is Changing for Kazakhstan's Travel Managers

NDC (the standard for connecting directly to airline systems) is no longer a theoretical conversation about the future. According to IATA, by February 2025 around 20% of Airlines Reporting Corporation transactions in the US were already flowing through NDC, and the corporate NDC segment grew fivefold between 2022 and 2024. The wave is now reaching the Kazakhstan market.

How it works. Airlines used to publish fares into global distribution systems (GDS — Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport), and agencies pulled them from there: standard booking classes, no bundles. NDC is a new XML-based protocol through which an airline delivers offers directly to an agency or corporate client — with personalized discounts, dynamic fares, and bundles of ancillary services. According to Reed & Mackay and ALTOUR, average savings on NDC fares in corporate programs reach up to 16% compared with the same flights in the GDS.

Where it already works. More than 60% of the world’s airlines support NDC at least partially (IATA). The most mature programs belong to Lufthansa Group, Air France-KLM, British Airways, American Airlines, and Iberia. In our region, Turkish Airlines, Emirates, and Qatar Airways are actively rolling out NDC. Air Astana still works mostly through the GDS, but a move toward NDC is a matter of the next two to three years.

Where the pitfalls are.

1. Data fragmentation. Bookings made via NDC, GDS, and airlines’ own websites land in different sources. If your travel partner does not consolidate them into a single report, corporate air spend analytics falls apart.

2. Fare comparability. NDC offers arrive as bundles: “economy + bag + seat,” “basic economy,” “refundable economy.” A policy written in “economy / business” terms cannot compare such bundles.

3. Refunds and exchanges. NDC bookings are changed directly under the airline’s own rules rather than through the standardized GDS process. If your partner does not work with a given NDC airline, an exchange turns into a manual operation that takes hours.

4. Partner readiness. According to GBTA, only 32% of corporate travel managers believe their travel partner has clearly explained its NDC plans to them. The initiative almost always has to come from the client.

What a travel manager in Kazakhstan should do right now.

1. Ask your travel partner for a summary: which of your top airlines are connected via NDC, and what share of bookings with them already goes through the new channel.

2. Check your corporate air travel report — does it show NDC bookings alongside GDS ones? Invisible bookings are a blind spot in your data and your budget.

3. Rewrite the key provisions of your travel policy around total trip cost rather than the “bare” airfare. An NDC bundle with baggage and a seat is often cheaper than a GDS economy fare plus separately purchased baggage.

4. In corporate fare negotiations, discuss the NDC channel separately — especially with Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Emirates, and Qatar Airways. Their corporate NDC programs are already mature.

If you would like to walk through NDC using your own program as an example, tell us in the comments which airlines make up your top five by purchase volume. In upcoming posts, we will look at which of them already have NDC up and running across the CIS.