NDC API Integration
AirGateway NDC API Integration Guide for Travel Developers
How to connect AirGateway's NDC aggregator API for airline booking, ancillaries and order management
By Project OTA | 8 Aug, 2026 | 7 min read
AirGateway is an IATA-certified NDC aggregator providing normalised access to airline NDC APIs. This guide covers the integration flow, supported message sets and how to build a production-ready NDC booking engine using AirGateway.
What AirGateway does and why developers choose it
AirGateway is an IATA-certified NDC aggregator and technology provider that connects travel agencies, OTAs and technology companies to airline NDC APIs through a single, normalised integration layer. Rather than building individual connections to each airline's NDC implementation — which differ significantly in schema, authentication and supported message sets — developers integrate once with AirGateway and gain access to 50+ airline NDC programmes.
AirGateway holds IATA NDC Level 4 certification, meaning it supports the full NDC message set from offer shopping through to order creation, servicing and payment. The platform is used by agencies who need richer airline content — personalised offers, ancillaries, real-time seat maps — than traditional GDS EDIFACT provides, particularly for carriers that have moved content off the GDS.
AirGateway API authentication and environment setup
AirGateway uses API key authentication for its REST-based interface. Each agency or technology partner receives credentials tied to their IATA or TIDS number and the airlines they are enabled to access. The API supports both a sandbox environment for integration testing and a live production environment.
Some airlines available through AirGateway require agency-specific enablement — meaning the airline must approve the agency to access their NDC content before search results from that carrier appear. This is a per-airline commercial and technical process, separate from AirGateway's platform access. Your integration roadmap should account for the time needed to onboard each target airline.
NDC message flow through AirGateway
The AirGateway integration follows the standard IATA NDC message flow but normalised across airlines. AirShopping returns offers from all enabled airlines matching the search criteria. OfferPrice reprices a selected offer to get the current confirmed price before booking. SeatAvailability returns the seat map for selected flights. OrderCreate submits the booking with passenger details, selected offer, optional ancillaries and payment information.
Post-booking messages include OrderRetrieve to fetch order status and details, OrderChange for modifications such as name corrections or seat changes, and OrderCancel for cancellations. Not all airlines support all post-booking messages — AirGateway's documentation lists per-airline capability matrices so you can design your UI to show or hide functionality based on what is actually available for a given itinerary.
Ancillaries: seats, baggage and meals through AirGateway
One of the primary advantages of NDC over legacy GDS is access to rich ancillary content. Through AirGateway, developers can retrieve paid seat selections with graphical seat maps, pre-paid baggage options with weight tiers, lounge passes, priority boarding and meal preferences — all priced in real time from the airline.
Ancillary services are represented as ServiceList items in the NDC response. Your booking engine should display these clearly in the booking flow with pricing and availability, allowing customers to add them to their order before OrderCreate. Post-booking ancillary additions are possible for some airlines through OrderChange but availability and process varies by carrier.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need my own IATA number to use AirGateway?
AirGateway typically requires an IATA, TIDS or IATAN number to provide access, as airline NDC programmes are linked to agency identity. Sub-agents can sometimes access through a host agency arrangement.
How does AirGateway differ from Duffel?
Both are NDC aggregators but with different models. Duffel holds its own IATA accreditation and settles on behalf of agencies. AirGateway works with agency-owned IATA numbers and direct BSP settlement, giving agencies more control over their airline commercial relationships.
Can AirGateway be used alongside a GDS?
Yes. Many OTAs use AirGateway for NDC content from airlines that have de-participated from GDS, while keeping GDS connectivity for multi-carrier interline content and legacy fare access.
Key Takeaways
- AirGateway is an IATA-certified Level 4 NDC aggregator connecting 50+ airlines.
- Provides a normalised NDC API layer so developers write one integration, not one per airline.
- Supports the full IATA NDC message set: AirShopping through OrderCancel.
Project OTA builds AirGateway NDC integrations for OTA platforms and agency booking engines — delivering production-ready airline content with full order lifecycle management.
Talk to Project OTA