Nordic airline, Finnair, has gone live with the world’s first ‘Native Order’, as it continues to pioneer the industry with digital innovations and modern retailing capabilities. Finnair’s CEO, Turkka Kuusisto, created the first native order in the world, on Finnair.com – Finland’s largest eCommerce store – booking a flight from Finnair’s Helsinki hub to London Heathrow. Native orders are a foundational retailing capability that allow airlines to manage customer orders directly in a single record – aligned with IATA One Order directives – and a cornerstone for the traveller centric retailing transformation in the airline industry.
Tiina Vesterinen, Finnair VP Digital Customer and Revenue, said: “The move to Offers and Orders supports our move towards modern retailing, enabling, for example, dynamic product bundles and enhanced ancillary sales, and improved relevancy to customers with personalisation in the future.”
“This is a massive technological transformation, where everything changes: architecture, integration, data, applications, processes, ways of working. However, it is even more of a business transformation enabling us to re-think how we best serve our customers in the digital channels.”
“We are excited about the opportunities that the change brings us and encourage all the parties in the industry to join the transformation.”
Cyril Tetaz, EVP Airline Solutions at Amadeus, commented: “Amadeus and Finnair have reached a key milestone in delivering more traveler-centric air travel by implementing a single order management system.”
“This innovation brings the shopping basket concept to the airline industry, connecting any travel service such as air, transfer, or hotel into a single record. Orders are the foundation that enable a truly connected journey. This is a significant step forward in the retailing transformation and showcases our commitment to investing in and delivering advanced technology solutions for our customers. We’re turning vision into reality.”
From PNRs to ‘Offers and Orders’
As the first airline globally to transition to this new model, Finnair is spearheading the industry-wide technology transformation from PNRs to ‘Offers and Orders’, paving the way for modern retailing and ultimately, a better experience for airline customers.
Finnair partnered with Amadeus, leading travel technology provider, to become the launch customer for Amadeus Nevio, an Offer and Order based solution built on modular and open technology. This collaboration reinforces Amadeus’ commitment to delivering advanced retailing capabilities and the company’s readiness to support pioneering airlines, like Finnair, with the transformation to offers and orders.
The move marks an important step in the transition from the Passenger Name Records (PNRs) and e-tickets issued today, towards the new Offers and Orders model. Bringing together all the necessary information, from flight details, services, preferences and personal information, an order will now combine the currently separate documents to create a simple, integrated customer record.
By doing this, Finnair aims to further modernise and simplify its processes across customer journeys, while also facilitating easier communication between the airline and its partners.
Personalised, frictionless experiences
Other benefits of this industry-leading move include the ability to create personalised, frictionless experiences for customers at every touchpoint, giving Finnair the freedom, agility and security to transform, differentiate, and boost its business.
Finnair has been successfully driving direct engagement and modernized distribution for years, successfully driving the New Distribution Capability (NDC) adoption across markets.
Having invested in direct channels and NDC (New Distribution Capability), Finnair aspires to transition to modern digital distribution enabling customers to choose relevant services for their travel according to their needs and preferences.
With further advancements expected in the coming years, Finnair aims to bring further value to its business and customers in each phase of the programme.
