United Airlines and Travelport have entered into a strategic relationship that, according to an announcement, “represents a new model of collaboration between an airline and a multi-source content provider.”

The arrangement, said the announcement, “marks a significant evolution from the traditional airline-distributor relationship, with teams from both companies working closely together to enable new capabilities and functionality for agency and corporate buying communities.”

Through this deal, said the announcement, Travelport will gain early access to United’s NDC technology roadmap and co-development opportunities, helping to ensure travel counselors benefit from the most sophisticated merchandising tools in the marketplace.

Andrew Nocella, United’s chief commercial officer, said, “Our new model for cooperation with Travelport helps ensure that United’s travel agencies and corporate buyers benefit from the most innovative retail travel solutions available.”

Greg Webb, CEO of Travelport, said, “By combining United’s advanced NDC capabilities with Travelport’s next-generation platform, we’re delivering richer content, better service solutions and more choice for all our customers worldwide.”

The partnership will involve:

• Early access, co-development and online booking tool (OTB) extras: Travelport will receive early access to United’s NDC-enabled extras with teams working together to co-develop new features and bring them to market rapidly.
• Technical Cooperation: United and Travelport will work together on a deeper level of technical collaboration than traditional airline-distributor relationships, with dedicated development resources focused on creating new capabilities specifically for Travelport+, a modern retailing platform.
• Accelerated Innovation: Through Travelport+, the relationship has an ability to accelerate the deployment of new features and functionality to travel agencies and corporate buyers.
• OTB extras: United will bring its portfolio of OBT extras to Travelport’s Deem OBT platform. Over time, this inclusion will introduce several new customer-friendly capabilities, including the ability to pool unused United travel credits, directly enroll in the United MileagePlus loyalty program, use United Jetstream amenity funds as a form of payment for ancillary purchases, and more.

The collaboration will be implemented in phases, with initial capabilities launching in early 2026 and additional features rolling out throughout the year. United will deploy specialized support teams to assist travel agencies during the transition, according to the announcement, including enhanced NDC capabilities to ensure smoother adoption of new technologies and maximize the value agencies may receive from the relationship.