Airline technology company Accelya has teamed up with international travel consultancy Temoji to form Business Travel Innovation Group (BIG) – a new joint-venture aimed at simplifying new distribution capabilities (NDC) for corporate travel buyers.
The BIG initiative brings together 20 enterprise and mid-market travel buyers from across the corporate travel landscape. BIG aims to foster open discussion, spotlight best practices, and support cross-industry collaboration as modern retailing becomes a reality. Members will explore how New Distribution Capabilities (NDC) can unlock richer content, smarter pricing, and better traveller experiences, while addressing the specific needs of managed travel.
Accelya is working alongside BIG members to help translate their insights into actionable recommendations. This collaboration begins with the release of a new guide, ‘Making Modern Airline Retailing a Reality for Corporate Travel’, which outlines seven key enablers buyers say are critical for mainstream NDC adoption in corporate travel programmes and three case studies of buyer implementations of NDC.
Findings from the guide highlight steady progress among BIG participants: half report full NDC implementation within their managed travel programs, 22% are actively rolling it out, and just 11% have yet to engage. Participants rated the overall difficulty of implementation at 7.1 out of 10 (where 10 indicates high complexity), reflecting the real challenges still faced across the ecosystem.
Despite this momentum, 76% cited coordination, not technology, as the primary barrier to scaling adoption. Yet confidence in the model remains strong: buyers rated their ability to communicate NDC’s value internally at 7.9 out of 10, pointing to a growing belief in its commercial and traveller benefits including richer content, smarter pricing, and a better end-user experience.
Paul Tilstone, Founder of Temoji and co-lead of the BIG initiative, said: “Many buyers are already moving towards modern retailing – piloting NDC, integrating with trusted partners, and rethinking how content and servicing are delivered. BIG was created to bring those voices together, identify what’s working, and define what’s needed. Coordination is the biggest challenge, and it’s one we can only solve together. This is a great example of action needed in our industry and I applaud Accelya for leading this effort with us.”
Tye Radcliffe, Chief Customer Success Officer at Accelya, added: “Corporate travel buyers are proving every day that NDC can deliver real value. But the industry still needs alignment to scale that success. Through BIG, we’re listening closely to buyer feedback and using it to collaborate with our airline customers to shape a more consistent, connected, and modern retailing experience.”
Insights from the BIG group will help shape a new industry-wide effort launching at GBTA later this month, aimed at addressing the core barriers identified in the guide. This upcoming initiative will focus on closing implementation gaps, improving coordination between stakeholders, and making it easier for airlines, sellers, and buyers to scale NDC adoption with confidence.
