Air France-KLM will extend its surcharge of 13 euros per one-way ticket this spring to corporate bookings when they are not enabled via NDC. 

As part of that process, the airline group will do away with private-channel arrangements that allowed some corporate travel agencies to avoid the surcharge on legacy GDS bookings. 

The move, which the airline group confirmed to Travel Weekly, was originally reported in France and was later reported by The Beat, a Travel Weekly sister publication. 

“There is no 26 euro surcharge if you are on NDC. The surcharge will only be activated when the agency remains in the traditional GDS environment,” Air France-KLM spokeswoman Helen Ames said. 

Air France-KLM first implemented a GDS surcharge of 11 euros one-way in 2018 for leisure bookings and has since raised the fee to 13 euros. The move was part of the airline group’s strategy to push travel agencies toward NDC-supported direct-channel sales. Subsequently, Air France-KLM has entered into NDC indirect-channel deals with Amadeus and Travelport, but not with Sabre. 

Ames said that leisure agencies have been gradually transferring their business with Air France-KLM to NDC channels and that currently 80% of leisure OTA volume is NDC-enabled. 

She said the private-channel deals have been a way to support corporate agencies while making the transition to NDC-enabled retailing.

Though Air France-KLM does not assess the 13 euro surcharge for NDC-enabled Travelport and Amadeus bookings, a “small surcharge” still applies, Ames said. She declined to confirm the amount. 

According to The Beat, Air-France KLM confirmed late last year that NDC-enabled transactions within Travelport have a surcharge of 1.40 euros to 3 euros. The airline group said those figures are similar to the surcharges assessed within the Amadeus GDS.

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