Rapid and IATA Announce the Open API Hub To Boost Innovation Across the Airline Industry

Newly launched API Hub fosters collaboration by providing industry developers with a centralized and open environment for sharing APIs and data

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rapid, the leading API hub provider that enables developers and enterprises to build, consume, and manage APIs, today announced the launch of the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Open API Hub - a data ecosystem for the entire airline industry to freely and openly share APIs and data without compromising control. IATA, whose approximately 300 members account for 83% of total air traffic, is the prime vehicle for inter-airline cooperation in promoting safe, reliable, secure and economical air services for the benefit of the world's consumers. IATA’s new API Hub, powered by Rapid, builds on this activity and provides a platform that will allow airlines to easily connect to the modern world by enabling the use of APIs to improve every step of the passenger’s journey.

“Combining our understanding of the issues facing the airline industry with Rapid’s expertise of the API and developer ecosystem, this partnership will create a platform to help the industry to innovate toward the goal of delivering a seamless customer experience,” said Muhammad Albakri, Senior Vice President, Financial Settlement and Distribution Services at IATA. “APIs are broadly used in the travel industry, from providing offers to customers to baggage tracking to flight status notifications. The true value of this partnership stems from the ability to successfully discover APIs, facilitate connectivity and help build trusted relationships between API providers and API consumers so that they may quickly and efficiently bring new players and applications to the market.”

When considering the air travel ecosystem (airlines, travel agents, safety regulators, aggregators, solution providers) the needs of effective data exchange is critical, especially in the areas of safety, security, environment, and other operational services. The Open API Hub addresses this need by opening up airline APIs to a broader industry community. With this hub, airlines and their partners can securely exchange and discover new information in real time, based on open standards, without dependencies on intermediaries, fostering a healthy community of innovation.

“We’re thrilled to partner with IATA to provide a central place where developers can discover and connect to APIs from across the airline industry. This partnership will empower developers across IATA, airlines and new travel startups to create new digital experiences that enhance and streamline travel experience. Access to airline data and API through a streamlined, unified platform will accelerate digital transformation and innovation across the travel industry,” said Iddo Gino, CEO and Founder of Rapid.

The Open API Hub is now publicly available to all developers within the airline industry ecosystem. Developers can visit the Open API Hub through the IATA Developer Portal here.

For more information:

• Read about the IATA Open API Hub in Airlines Magazine here
• Read more about RapidAPI Enterprise
• Iddo Gino’s headshot is available here

About Rapid

Rapid is the leading API Hub provider. It’s the first API Hub, built for the cloud, and has the largest developer community of more than 4 million active developers. Only with the Rapid API Hub can everyone from an enterprise to an individual developer build, consume, and manage their APIs while they rapidly innovate what’s next. More than 70% of Fortune 500 companies trust the Rapid API Hub. Learn more here.

About IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world’s airlines, representing some 300 airlines or 83% of total air traffic. IATA supports many areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues. For more information please visit www.iata.org.