IATA assumes Open AXIS license from ATPCO

Geneva, 2013-05-03 — /travelprnews.com/ — The International Air Transport Association (IATA) marked a major milestone in its New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative with the assignment by Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO) of its Open AXIS license to IATA. This makes IATA the custodian of the Open AXIS XML schema, with full governance over schema evolution, including further development, maintenance and standardization efforts.

The Open AXIS license assignment to IATA is fully aligned with the decision taken at the Passenger Distribution Group (PDG) meeting in January 2013 to use Open AXIS schemas to enable NDC to deliver XML capabilities.

“XML schemas are one of the building blocks of NDC, setting the parameters for transmitting data between partners in the air travel distribution value chain. The Open Axis framework is well-advanced. And it will continue to evolve in line with industry needs to ensure that NDC is open, robust and transparent,” said Eric Leopold, IATA Director Passenger.

IATA XML Standards are released under Passenger and Airport Data Interchange Standards (PADIS) governance, and Open AXIS’s schemas in the interim are open and available for use by the entire industry.

Under the license agreement with ATPCO, IATA has assumed the Open AXIS website. ATPCO will remain actively involved and provide assistance to the NDC initiative, including participating in the Distribution Data Exchange Working Group that is detailing NDC business requirements and XML schemas.

For more information, please contact:
Corporate Communications
Tel: +41 22 770 2967
Email: corpcomms@iata.org

Notes for Editors:

• IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 240 member airlines comprising 84% of total air traffic.
• You can follow us at http://twitter.com/iata2press for news specially catered for the media.
• XML Schemas define vocabularies and a set of messages that allow computers to communicate using these messages.
• IATA has launched an NDC blog for the latest program updates, commentary and thought leadership.
• Passenger and Airport Data Interchange Standards (PADIS) is established under the governance of Passenger Services Conference Resolution 783 to develop and maintain Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) message standards, eXtensible Markup Language (XML) specifications and also future specifications for electronic interchange of data for airline passenger travel and airport related passenger service activity.
• ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Company) is jointly-owned by international airlines including Delta Air Lines, British Airways, American Airlines, Air Canada, KLM, United Airlines, Iberia and Air France.