German airline group Lufthansa is touting a new partnership with Travix to showcase its distribution strategy within the wider framework of what NDC can achieve.

The online travel agency group is the first third party seller of air tickets to sign up to Lufthansa Group’s NDC Smart Offer system and will spearhead its Partner Programme.

At the heart of the integration between the pair will be the use of fare families using information “down the pipe” from Lufthansa that allows Travix’s consumer-facing brands to package tickets with specific services and, eventually, serve dynamically priced fares to passengers.

There is no global distribution system involved in the process and the partnership is expected to see the first bookings come on stream during the summer of 2018.

Brands featured in the deal include Travix’s CheapTickets, Vliegwin-kel, BudgetAir, Flugladen and Vayama.

Rich content for the integration is coming by way of a deal signed last week between Lufthansa and Routehappy, allowing users to see various on-board amenities within the booking flow.

Heike Birlenbach, head of sales for the Hub airlines of the Lufthansa Group and chief commercial officer of the Frankfurt Hub, says: “With the NDC Partner Programme we also take a step forward with regards to modern airline retailing-business models, by offering agents a preferred value proposition encompassing technology, servicing, offers and strategic cooperation components.”

Lufthansa works with 35 tech providers across its NDC program, although the Travix integration is being handled solely by Farelogix.