All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest and 5-Star airline for seven consecutive years, and Skyscanner, a leading online travel company, announce today a collaboration to allow customers to search for, book and pay for ANA flights on Skyscanner from March 25, 2020*1, through Skyscanner’s Direct Booking platform.
“ANA continually strives to improve the travel experience for its passengers from start to finish, and work on the NDC platform dates back to April 2019,” said Mitsuo Tomita, Senior Vice President of ANA. “We are excited to become the first airline in Japan to offer our passengers an NDC platform that will allow for a seamless travel experience with Skyscanner’s direct booking capabilities. The full integration of these capabilities will ultimately help to improve ANA’s overall level of service and hospitality.”
“As part of our journey to transform airline distribution in the market we are continuously striving to partner with leading carriers such as ANA,” said Mike Ferguson, Commercial Director at Skyscanner. “Skyscanner’s powerful Direct Booking capability gives our airline partners the ability to increase conversion rates, showcase their up-sell fares and increase their ancillaries’ sales in the partner’s branded flow. As a traveller-first brand, we are also delighted to offer travellers the unique opportunity to search and book ANA flights on Skyscanner with as little friction as possible and with full access to ANA’s trusted services and cabin classes.”
The partnership with Skyscanner allows ANA to streamline communications between airlines and customers, leading to a more convenient customer experience. Skyscanner’s Direct Booking platform enables passengers to research, choose and immediately book itineraries within Skyscanner’s website or app without having to re-direct to ANA’s website. If passengers are logged in to their Skyscanner account, the registered name and details will be inserted automatically into the relevant fields during the purchasing process, so they do not need to re-enter them every time. Passengers are also able to apply for ancillary services – such as purchasing lounge access and advanced seat reservations –previously only accessible through ANA’s website or reservation center.
Since April 2019, ANA has been working to create a New Distribution Capability (NDC) platform with the goal of making the booking process more efficient. This collaboration with Skyscanner makes ANA the first airline in Japan to obtain IATA’s NDC Level 3 certification, cementing its awareness as a NDC capable airline in travel industry.
With the integration of Skyscanner and the ANA NDC platform, ANA is setting the standard for convenience while also delivering wider opportunities for passengers to purchase a range of services via a single platform.
ANA will continue seeking out new ways to adopt innovative techniques and services so that it is better equipped to continually improve the travel experience for its passengers.
Travelers may use the Skyscanner search widget below.
*1 For countries outside of Japan, service will be available from March 31, 2020.
