Warning: not another vibecoded B2B SaaS promising to "revolutionize" an industry
โœˆ๏ธ

THE API FOR SELLING AIRLINE TICKETS

We connect travel sellers to airlines through one simple integration

Built for travel sellers that want one clean way to search flights, sell tickets, add extras like bags and seats, and handle changes or cancellations across many airlines without stitching together a separate integration for each carrier.

Founder: Naoufal Dahouli hello@norba.io Norba.io
Problem

Airline distribution is still broken

๐Ÿ”Œ

Fragmented supply

OTAs must integrate airline-by-airline across different NDC schemas, servicing rules, ancillaries, and edge cases.

๐Ÿ’ธ

Legacy economics

Air distribution still concentrates billions of euros in incumbent layers, proving value but also leaving cost and complexity in the system.

๐Ÿงฉ

Poor retailing UX

Richer offers, bundles, and ancillaries exist, but travel sellers lack a clean way to access them consistently at scale.

Solution

A normalized API for modern air retailing

One integration

A single API for shopping, pricing, ancillaries, booking, changes, cancellations, and order servicing.

Multi-airline aggregation

We connect multiple airlines and normalize inconsistent content into one developer-friendly schema.

Distribution intelligence

We abstract retries, failures, fare rules, and servicing complexity so OTAs can focus on conversion and customer experience.

Workflow
OTAs / TMCs / sellers
โ†“
Norba.io Unified API
โ†“
Airline NDC + direct connects
โ†“
Offers, orders, ancillaries, servicing
Market

The market is already enormous

$1.008T
Global airline industry revenue, 2025 estimate
$716B
Passenger revenue, 2025 estimate
$137B
Ancillary & other revenue, 2025 estimate
4.982B
Passenger segments, 2025 estimate

OTA demand side

Skift estimates the OTA sector at $94B in 2024, rising to $107B by 2026, with $794B gross bookings in 2024. That means the buyers of better airline connectivity already operate at global scale.

Infrastructure wedge

We are not trying to own all travel spend. We are targeting the bottleneck layer that sits between airline supply and digital sellers.

Economics

Cut the middlemen. Keep the margin.

A traditional GDS booking can pass through multiple intermediaries, each adding a fee, markup, or legacy workflow layer. Our model connects the seller through one API into airline NDC content and avoids stacked distribution costs.

Traditional GDS path ยท 4 hops ยท stacking fees ยท filed fares only
01 OTA / Agency โ€” your booking app
02 GDS terminal โ€” Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport; subscription and segment economics
03 Aggregator / tech provider โ€” integration layer; markup or per-segment fee
04 Consolidator โ€” negotiated fare contracts; margin added
05 Airline CRS โ€” often filed fares only, limited retail richness
Indicative cost stack
GDS segment fee: $3.50โ€“$6.00
Consolidator markup: 1โ€“3%
Tech-provider fee: $0.50โ€“$2.00
Booking surcharge: $1โ€“$4
Effective cost: $8.08โ€“$15.45 per booking
Direct NDC API aggregator ยท 1 hop ยท airline price ยท live content
01 OTA / Agency โ€” your booking app
02 Norba / unified API โ€” one REST API with normalized NDC
03 Airline NDC โ€” live fares, ancillaries, seats, bundles, order servicing
Indicative cost stack
Confirmed order: flat $1.50
GDS segment fee: โ€”
Consolidator markup: โ€”
Hidden surcharges: โ€”
Effective cost: flat $1.50 per confirmed order
Why the urgency is real

Many airlines are actively steering agencies away from legacy GDS bookings by adding explicit surcharges on EDIFACT channels. Turkish Airlines says that, effective May 1, 2026, a surcharge of USD 30 per ticket applies to bookings made through GDS EDIFACT channels, while no additional fees apply through TKCONNECT and other alternative channels. Lufthansa Group has also maintained and adjusted its Distribution Cost Charge on GDS bookings, with recent examples around EUR 22 per ticket through Sabre and higher USD equivalents in several channels.

Why now

Retailing is shifting from theory to deployment

70+

Airlines on ARM

More than 70 airlines are certified by the IATA Airline Retailing Maturity framework, showing broad movement toward NDC-enabled retailing.

26+

Travelport NDC airlines

Travelport says it supports 26 and counting airlines through NDC, confirming that multi-source aggregation is now a real agency requirement.

โ‚ฌ3.119B

Amadeus Air Distribution

Incumbent revenue shows how valuable the distribution layer remains, even before modern APIs fully reshape it.

Business model

Monetize the rails, not the traveler

API / SaaS fees

Platform subscription and usage-based access for sellers that need scalable airline connectivity.

Per booking / per order

Transaction fees tied to successful booking or servicing events align revenue with customer growth.

Enterprise modules

Premium workflow, servicing, analytics, and reconciliation capabilities can deepen account revenue over time.

This creates a high-margin infrastructure profile: once integrations are built, additional sellers connect through the same normalized layer with strong operating leverage.

Competition

Competitive landscape

Duffel

Direct API-first benchmark in this category. Duffel raised a $30M Series B in 2019 after earlier funding, validating investor appetite for modern airline connectivity.

AirGateway

A more direct category comp. AirGateway positions itself as an NDC aggregation platform with a REST/JSON gateway and claims access to 25+ to 30+ carriers through one platform.

Legacy GDS stack

Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport are the infrastructure we want to displace in this workflow, not the startup comparables. They prove market size, but the product thesis is to bypass legacy distribution layers.

Our edge

Neutral aggregation, cleaner developer experience, faster implementation, and focus on the seller workflow rather than legacy distribution stacks.

Go-to-market

Start with the highest pain wedge

1

Mid-market OTAs

They need breadth of content but cannot afford deep custom airline integrations across the board.

2

TMCs & consolidators

These players care deeply about servicing, reliability, and operational efficiency on top of fare access.

3

Expand by airline count

Each new airline connection makes the platform more valuable to every seller already integrated.

Traction

What to say today if you are early

Product

Core thesis, product architecture, and target workflows are defined: shopping, booking, ancillaries, and servicing through one API.

Pipeline

Focus current conversations on design partners, pilot customers, and airline connectivity opportunities rather than overstating scale.

Near-term goals

Secure first pilots, integrate first airline set, demonstrate reliability, and convert technical interest into recurring revenue.

Investor framing

Be explicit: pre-scale but solving a proven pain point in a very large market with visible comparable demand and funded peers.

Sizing

TAM, SAM, SOM narrative

TAM

Global digital airline distribution infrastructure linked to a $1.008T airline revenue base and a $622.6B online travel market.

SAM

The OTA and digital seller segment already represents $794B in gross bookings and needs better airline access infrastructure.

SOM

Initial wedge: European and mid-market OTAs, TMCs, and consolidators needing faster integration and lower distribution friction.

Why us

Why this team can win

Category insight

We understand both sides of the marketplace: airline retailing complexity on the supply side and integration pain on the seller side.

Execution focus

We are not trying to build a consumer brand. We are building infrastructure, where reliability, abstraction, and workflow depth create durable moats.

Our thesis
The market does not need another OTA.
It needs the API layer
that makes airline retailing usable at scale.
Round

Fundraising ask

โ‚ฌ200K
Capital sought now
20%
Equity offered
โ‚ฌ800K
Pre-money valuation
โ‚ฌ1.0M
Post-money valuation

45%

Product & engineering

25%

Commercial & pilots

20%

Ops & supplier onboarding

10%

Runway buffer

Milestones

12-month execution plan

Q1

Complete MVP for search, booking, ancillaries, and core servicing workflows.

Q2

Integrate first airline set and launch first design-partner pilots.

Q3

Prove reliability, iterate on developer experience, and onboard first paying sellers.

Q4

Expand airline breadth, strengthen servicing, and build repeatable commercial motion.

๐Ÿš€

LET'S MODERNIZE AIR DISTRIBUTION

Funding โ€ข pilots โ€ข airline partnerships โ€ข OTA intros

Building the API infrastructure layer for the next era of airline retailing.