Air Europa and Retailaer Launch Innovative Travel Agency Platform
Retailaer, an airline retailing and distribution platform, has announced the first phase of its integration with Air Europa, providing travel agents worldwide with a seamless shopping and servicing experience that integrates flights, ancillaries, and third-party services in Retailaer’s comprehensive Offer and Order Management System. This initial launch in Spain, with a selected number of partners, is part of Air Europa’s plans for a global rollout later in the year.
The partnership aims to set a new standard in the airline industry, demonstrating how modern technologies can deliver a more responsive and personalised experience for travel agents booking with airlines. As part of this collaboration with Air Europa, Retailaer’s open and modular approach supports other retail technology partners.
“We are very pleased to have Retailaer’s platform in place to connect with our content to further extend our NDC journey, and the relationship with our partners around the world,”
said Yago Casasnovas, Head of Payments, Fraud Prevention and Distribution, Air Europa. “This is a further step in line with the targets we have set in helping the user to decide how they want to access our content, which is reflected in our campaign slogan ‘You decide’. The possibility of accessing our content via our Travel Agency portal, NDC or GDS makes shopping with Air Europa easier than ever.”
Anders Lofgren, Co-founder and CEO, Retailaer, added: “We are proud to support Air Europa in building a more efficient, relevant, and connected retail experience for the travel trade. Air Europa’s adoption of the Connect platform demonstrates how airlines can unlock new value for its agency network without being constrained by legacy infrastructure. At Retailaer, we believe the future of airline retailing lies in adaptability, agility, speed to market, and true partner enablement.”
Final thoughts
The Retailaer–Air Europa integration signals a meaningful shift in airline distribution strategy—one that aligns with the broader industry trend toward modern Offer and Order Management (OOM) and enhanced NDC (New Distribution Capability) implementation. What sets this collaboration apart is its commitment to modularity and openness, positioning Retailaer as a compelling alternative to more entrenched players like Accelya, Farelogix (now part of Sabre), and Amadeus’ NDC-X program.
Unlike traditional platforms still burdened by legacy constraints or closed-loop systems, Retailaer emphasizes agility, scalability, and partner enablement. This open architecture resonates strongly in today’s airline retailing landscape, where the success of NDC hinges not just on content availability but on how easily and flexibly that content can be delivered across distribution channels. Retailaer’s approach seems to echo the IATA’s vision of “One Order” and aligns with the Retailing Consortium’s calls for collaborative and innovation-led transformation.
In comparison to Amadeus, which often pushes for vertical integration through its own GDS and PSS ecosystem, Retailaer is carving a niche as a lightweight and integrative layer that can sit above or alongside existing infrastructure—ideal for mid-sized carriers like Air Europa who want to modernize retail capabilities without locking into monolithic tech stacks.
Air Europa’s phased rollout also mirrors the cautious but strategic NDC adoption seen across Europe. According to Retail Information Systems and Skift Research, only a subset of airlines have achieved full NDC maturity, and fewer still have built OOM systems that truly leverage ancillary bundling, dynamic offers, and third-party integrations. Retailaer’s integration helps close that gap by offering airlines faster time-to-market without forgoing customization or partner collaboration.
In a retailing era increasingly driven by personalization, speed, and flexibility, this partnership illustrates a pragmatic model for transformation. If Retailaer can demonstrate sustained performance, scalability, and support for additional partners across Air Europa’s network, it could well position itself as a viable challenger in the growing arena of airline retail tech disruptors.
About Air Europa
In the air since 1986, Air Europa is a Spanish airline and a member of the SkyTeam alliance. The company’s fleet, made up of 56 aircraft, is one of the most modern and sustainable in the industry, consisting of Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Boeing 737 models that ensure maximum efficiency and comfort for passengers. Air Europa flies to more than 55 destinations worldwide and holds a strategic position at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport hub, connecting Europe and the Americas.
The airline stands out for its strong commitment to sustainability and decarbonization, as well as its focus on innovation through the adoption of cutting-edge technologies for the digitalization and optimization of its processes. In addition, Air Europa offers a high level of excellence to its passengers and is consistently ranked among the most punctual airlines in Europe.
About Retailaer
Retailaer is a next-generation airline retailing and distribution platform designed to empower airlines with flexible, modular, and open technology solutions. Built around the principles of IATA’s Offer and Order Management vision, Retailaer enables carriers to deliver personalized, dynamic, and bundled offers across all distribution channels—including direct, NDC, and GDS—without the limitations of legacy systems. Its cloud-native architecture and partner-friendly design allow airlines to integrate third-party services, ancillaries, and payments seamlessly, accelerating time-to-market and driving retail innovation. Founded by industry veterans, Retailaer is committed to reshaping how airlines connect, sell, and serve in the digital age.
