LUfthansa Systems S

• Airline IT specialist and JR Technologies jointly provide NDC-based demo system for programming event

Raunheim | October 16, 2015– Lufthansa Systems today announced that it is supporting the “THack” hackathon taking place this weekend in Hamburg. In cooperation with JR Technologies, the airline IT specialist is providing a demo system based on IATA’s (International Air Transport Association) New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard which will give developers the data base they need for their tools. The programming event is being organized by IATA and Tnooz in advance of the IATA World Passenger Symposium (October 20-22).

The new IATA standard known as NDC should give consumers the same purchasing experience regardless of where or with whom they book their trip. At the hackathon, around 100 developers from a variety of backgrounds – the travel industry, advertising and marketing, SaaS, mobile solutions and social media – will be able to work alone or in a team to develop ideas for such systems. The goal is to create prototypes, business software tools or new user experiences for airline shopping and other travel services over the course of two days. Attractive prizes await the winners.

Lufthansa Systems and JR Technologies have developed a demo system so that the hackers can tinker and program under realistic conditions. The system simulates two fictional airlines, including route networks, booking options and dynamic pricing – all in accordance with the NDC standard, of course. Lufthansa Systems anonymized real data for this system, making the demo experience as realistic as possible.

“As the biggest provider of innovative IT solutions for the aviation industry, Lufthansa Systems has a variety of products in its portfolio whose functions are significantly affected by the new NDC standard – such as in the fields of revenue management, pricing and revenue accounting. We are getting involved early on in the development of new solutions so that we can be at the forefront of trends and innovations in this area and offer our customers a competitive advantage,” said Stephan Würll, an NDC expert at Lufthansa Systems.