MENA Flight Distribution Report 2026

GDS, NDC, direct connectivity and low-cost carrier capacity

Published: 14 August 2026

Scope: GCC markets with selected documented cases
from Egypt, Jordan and North Africa; not a complete census of every MENA
country.

Quick answer

• OAG Middle East LCC seat-capacity share increased from 13% in
  2014 to 29% in 2024. [AV01]

• Published integrations prove NDC availability, not actual booking
  share. [AV02-AV09]

• No audited public MENA transaction split across GDS, NDC and
  direct was located. [AV-C07]

Executive summary

Regional airline distribution is multi-channel. Saudia launched NDC
content on Sabre and Royal Jordanian went live on Travelport. Riyadh Air
announcements are contractual and technical enablement for a new
carrier, not disclosures of completed booking volume. [AV02; AV04; AV05;
AV09]

EgyptAir evidence through Iris and the vendor NDC 24.4 update
demonstrate capability and availability but disclose no transaction
volume. This report therefore publishes no Gulf-versus-North-Africa
maturity ranking. [AV07; AV08]

For agencies, the durable advantage is content comparison, post-sale
servicing and fallback capability rather than ownership of one
channel.

Definitions and scope limits

IATA defines NDC as an open data-exchange standard for offers and
orders. Content may reach an agency inside a GDS, through an aggregator
or through direct connectivity; NDC availability is therefore not a
standalone channel share. [AV10]

Airport figures count passenger throughput and may include transfers
and repeat travellers. They must not be added to airline passenger
totals or used to measure distribution channels.

Documented availability map

Saudia on Sabre: documented go-live on 14 January 2025. [AV02]

Riyadh Air: Sabre selection and Travelport agreement are distribution
enablement; no transaction share is published. [AV04; AV05]

EgyptAir: Iris availability followed by a TPConnects NDC 24.4
capability update. [AV07; AV08]

Royal Jordanian: documented Travelport go-live on 29 May 2026.
[AV09]

Low-cost carriers and
capacity

OAG reports that LCC share of seat capacity in its Middle East scope
rose from 13% to 29% between 2014 and 2024, with 11.5% compound growth
versus 1.4% for mainline carriers. [AV01]

This is scheduled capacity in OAG scope, not B2B booking share and
not a GCC-six statistic. Country share requires a consistent
scheduled-seat extract by origin airport, month and carrier, plus a
stable LCC taxonomy.

What public evidence cannot
measure

No audited public MENA transaction split across GDS, NDC and direct
connectivity was located. A public gap does not mean private airline,
GDS or IATA data do not exist. [AV11]

Announcement counts do not measure maturity. Availability does not
equal usage, and usage does not prove complete exchange and refund
servicing.

Agency operating metrics

Track search success, price persistence to payment, issuance success,
response latency, exchange/refund success, ADM rate, supplier errors and
downtime, and manual service cost.

Measure by source, carrier, point of sale and trip type, with
consistent exclusions for tests, voids and involuntary changes.

12-24 month scenarios

Base: NDC availability expands inside agency interfaces while GDS and
direct connectivity coexist.

Upside: post-sale servicing improves and multi-source comparison
becomes standard.

Stress: disruption and content economics redistribute volume without
one channel fully replacing the others.

These are research scenarios, not numerical forecasts; no NDC-share
forecast is published without an audited transaction baseline.

Practical recommendations

Build source-level success dashboards, not connection counts.

Test exchanges, refunds and ADM exposure before scaling.

Maintain fallback paths for high-value carriers and routes.

Score price quality separately from servicing quality.

Do not claim price or conversion uplift without controlled
transaction evidence.

Methodology and limitations

Cutoff: 14 August 2026. Priority was given to official sources,
carrier/technology-partner announcements and IATA definitions; OAG is
labelled commercial evidence.

The report contains no Trippify internal data. Coverage is incomplete
for some North African states and carriers, and absence of a public
announcement does not prove absence of private integration.

FAQ

Executive summary?

Regional airline distribution is multi-channel. Saudia launched NDC
content on Sabre and Royal Jordanian went live on Travelport. Riyadh Air
announcements are contractual and technical enablement for a new
carrier, not disclosures of completed booking volume. [AV02; AV04; AV05;
AV09]

Definitions and scope
limits?

IATA defines NDC as an open data-exchange standard for offers and
orders. Content may reach an agency inside a GDS, through an aggregator
or through direct connectivity; NDC availability is therefore not a
standalone channel share. [AV10]

Documented availability map?

Saudia on Sabre: documented go-live on 14 January 2025. [AV02]

Low-cost carriers and
capacity?

OAG reports that LCC share of seat capacity in its Middle East scope
rose from 13% to 29% between 2014 and 2024, with 11.5% compound growth
versus 1.4% for mainline carriers. [AV01]

References

• [AV01] OAG
  — Middle East aviation market: LCC capacity evidence (2025-04). Seat
  capacity; not GCC-only and not booking share.

• [AV02] Sabre /
  Saudia — Saudia launches NDC content on Sabre (2025-01-14). Go-live
  proves availability, not transaction share.

• [AV03] Travelport
  / Saudia — Saudia NDC integration (2025-10-20).
  Agreement/availability; adoption volume not disclosed.

• [AV04] Sabre
  / Riyadh Air — Riyadh Air selects Sabre as first global distribution
  partner (2025-05-13). Agreement and enablement; not a booking-volume
  disclosure.

• [AV05] Travelport
  / Riyadh Air — Multi-year NDC agreement with Riyadh Air
  (2025-11-20). Agreement; not evidence of completed adoption.

• [AV06] Travelport
  / Etihad — Distribution agreement including NDC offers (2024-01-18).
  Agreement; rollout can vary by market.

• [AV07] TPConnects
  / EgyptAir — EgyptAir NDC content on Iris (2025-09). Aggregator
  availability; no volume.

• [AV08] TPConnects
  / EgyptAir — EgyptAir NDC 24.4 production update (2026-07).
  Vendor-reported capability.

• [AV09] Travelport
  / Royal Jordanian — Royal Jordanian NDC goes live on Travelport
  (2026-05-29). Go-live; no transaction share.

• [AV10] IATA
  — New Distribution Capability definition (Accessed 2026-08-14).
  Definition only.

• [AV11] IATA — Billing and
  Settlement Plan overview (Accessed 2026-08-14). Process description
  only.

• [AV12] Egypt
  State Information Service — Cairo International Airport 2025 traffic
  (2026). Airport movements; not unique travellers.

Related Trippify resources

• Travel API
• B2B travel portal
• Travel industry insights