Article · February 17, 2026 · Rodolphe Lenoir

ECTAA Distribution Summit 2026: is retail the real future of air distribution?

The column of Rodolphe Lenoir, co-founder of IMPACT CONSULTANTS

Between NDC fragmentation and the rise of the “Offer & Order” model, the airline industry is still reshaping its distribution.

On 10 and 11 February, in Brussels, ECTAA (European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations) brought together airlines, GDSs, TMCs and technology players for its annual Distribution Summit. At a time when the fragmentation of air distribution has reached unprecedented levels, the event confirmed one thing: the debate is no longer ideological, it has become vital for the industry. At the heart of the discussions, the panel moderated by Rodolphe Lenoir, co-founder of IMPACT CONSULTANTS - “What’s Next in Air Travel Distribution?” - addressed head-on the real state of NDC, the promises and limits of retailing, the impact of AI and the place of agencies.

1. NDC in 2026: real adoption, persistent fragmentation

Lufthansa was one of the first airlines to deploy NDC, back in 2016. Ten years later, NDC still accounts for between 20% and 30% of total ticket issuance. A telling figure: despite a decade of investment, the EDIFACT model remains dominant. NDC is a channel, not yet a shift. The initial motivations were threefold - strategic, escaping the constraints of full content agreements; financial, regaining control of distribution costs; functional, offering differentiated bundles. On that last point, the assessment is lucid: PSS capabilities did not allow the promise made to the trade to be delivered straight away.

On the GDS side, the challenge was existential. Amadeus points out that NDC remains a strategic priority: close to 35 airlines live, 15 to 20 further activations planned in 2026, more than 50,000 connected agencies - and an adoption rate that is extremely uneven from one airline to another, from 0% to over 50%.

Three challenges still shape the market

2. Retailing: NDC is a channel, Offer & Order is an architecture

The panel’s consensus is clear: NDC is not the final destination. It was meant to reproduce the airline website experience - bundles, personalisation, flexibility. The most tangible differentiation today remains dynamic and continuous pricing.

The real structural break lies elsewhere. The old world was built around PNRs, tickets and EMDs; the new one works on a single, flexible, enrichable Order. The stakes are not cosmetic: fewer artificial servicing constraints, basket logic, better disruption management, less dependence on cryptic expertise. We are moving from a transactional model to a commercial model built around the offer.

3. The role of agencies: disappearance or move up the value chain?

The question put to the panel was deliberately direct: will airlines go full direct? Lufthansa’s answer is no - the transition will be gradual and structurally dependent on distribution networks. The agencies that will come out stronger are those that:

Those that stick to a purely transactional logic, on the other hand, will see their value compressed.

Another decade of transition?

Ten years after the first implementations, air distribution is still in transition. Airline retailing is not an achievement: it is a work in progress. And for agencies, the panel’s implicit recommendation could be summed up as follows: don’t let the architecture happen to you - understand it, and integrate it before it imposes itself.

A column by Rodolphe Lenoir - co-founder of IMPACT CONSULTANTS. Published in TourMaG on February 17, 2026.

IMPACT CONSULTANTS
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