Home
FacebookSearchMenu
  • Subscribe (free)
  • Subscribe (free)
  • News
  • Features
  • TravelInfo
  • Columns
  • Community
  • Sponsored
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Advertise
    • Send Us News

Share

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • E-mail
  • Print

Local tech firm is kulula’s chosen distributor

17 May 2021 - by Sarah Robertson
Monique Diez of MD Dynamics is sales and marketing partner, Louis van Zyl is ceo of Trans-end 
Comments | 0

New travel tech start-up, Trans-end, is having a busy time with enquiries from agents looking for access to kulula content, after kulula’s sudden announcement to the industry this week that it was exiting the GDS and that Trans-end was the recommended local kulula content aggregation platform read here.

Agents can access the airline’s content through its distribution aggregator partners, Travel Fusion (an international company) or Trans-end (a local company). Travel News spoke to Trans-end ceo and founder, Louis van Zyl, to find out more about the company’s new agent booking platform and its capabilities.

Louis said the seed for the company had first been planted back in 2016, while he was still coo of Tourvest Travel Services, learning about NDC content and how airlines intended to move away from expensive GDS distribution in favour of NDC distribution through cheaper API connections.

Seeing that a gap existed for a local tech company to help agents transition into making more NDC bookings while also maintaining their access to GDS content, Louis and his team founded Trans-end in 2019 with the intention of creating a local booking platform that focused on incorporating both GDS and non-GDS content for all the airlines that service the sub-Saharan region.

Trans-end now boasts that it is the first and only Iata NDC level-four-certified company in sub-Saharan Africa. At present, its booking platform offers both Amadeus and Sabre GDS content, as well as five direct connect channels that are already up and running. These include BA International, Lufthansa, Air France, Hahn Air and now kulula. According to Louis, Trans-end is on the verge of adding a number of other direct connections with large NDC-certified foreign airlines (including a large Middle Eastern carrier) and is also working on creating connections to non-NDC LCC and regional airlines, such as Lift.

As a locally developed booking platform, Trans-end also gives South African agents the advantage of competitive rand-based pricing, local support and level-two B-BBEE certification. According to Louis, agents are charged a sign-on fee, a basic monthly fee and a PNR transaction fee to access Trans-end’s content. He says its offering is significantly more affordable (in the double-digit percentages) than its international competitors’ pricing.

Agents can access Trans-end’s content in two ways. Trans-end either sets up a tailored white label site for the agent to access its booking engine or agents can access the Trans-end API and integrate it in their own internal booking systems.

The platform also integrates seamlessly with Amadeus and Sabre. This means that if a consultant makes a direct connect booking in the Trans-end booking system, this will automatically create passive segments for the booking in the GDS, allowing agents to continue to view all their bookings in the GDS.

“Agents can sometimes be reluctant to move off the GDS, either because they are in a comfort zone using these systems or because of GDS commercial incentives that pay them for every GDS segment they book. The downside of this is that GDS fares are undoubtedly the most expensive fares and these agents are passing these costs on to their clients, sometimes without even realising how uncompetitive their rates are. At Trans-end we are providing a way for agents to transition from high percentages of GDS bookings to a position where their direct connect bookings become more prevalent. Our booking tool is fairly unique as very few other tools offer such a wide scope of content for agents to access in one platform, which integrates multiple GDS content with NDC direct connect content,” said Louis.

Monique Diez has been appointed Trans-end’s sales and marketing partner. Monique has previous experience heading up sales development for both Sabre and Travelport and has a number of years’ experience running her own consultancy, MD Dynamics.

Sign up to our mailing list and get daily news headlines and weekly features directly to your inbox free.

Exorbitant taxes clip African airlines' wings

Today 18:50
Comments | 0

Europe on fire: tourists feels the heat

06 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

MOU will advance aviation in Africa

06 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

RCI opens bookings for new beach club

06 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

Monday Smile: Thai elephant finds new family

06 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

Latest Changes on Travelinfo (04Jul'25)

06 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

Last-minute cruises? Still plenty of space

03 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

Operating safely in a more conflict-ridden world

Column
03 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

Edelweiss adds Windhoek flights

03 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

Blaauwberg Beach Hotel unveils new event venue

03 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

Feature: Regent unveils new Spotlight Voyages

03 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

MK backtracks on sports equipment charge

03 Jul 2025
Comments | 0

Spain opens Roman temple to tourists

03 Jul 2025
Comments | 0
  • Load more

FeatureClick to view

New products July 2025

Poll

I don't sell cruises because...
  • © Now Media
  • Privacy Policy
  • Travel News on Facebook
  • eTNW Twitter
  • Travel News RSS
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Send Us News