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ARC Proxies

Glossary · Travel distribution

ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Company)

ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Company) is an airline-owned company that collects the fares and fare rules airlines file and distributes them to global distribution systems, airline reservation systems and online travel agencies, making it the central clearing point for published airfare data.

Reviewed 30 Oct 2026

See alsoGDS (global distribution system)Fare basis codeNDC (New Distribution Capability)Fare class (booking class, RBD)

What ATPCO does

  • Collects filings. Airlines file fares, each with a fare basis code, and the rules that govern them.
  • Distributes them. The same data goes to GDSs, airline reservation systems and online agencies, so every seller prices from one source.
  • Carries content. Since acquiring Routehappy in February 2018 it also distributes descriptive product content, such as seat and amenity information.

A short history

Its roots go back to the Air Traffic Conference of America, formed within the Air Transport Association in 1945 to publish tariffs. The function became an independent company in 1965 and took the ATPCO name in 1975. It is owned by a group of airlines and based near Washington Dulles airport.

How a filed fare reaches a screen

  • An airline's pricing team files a fare and its rules.
  • The filing is distributed to subscribing systems.
  • A GDS or reservation system prices a requested itinerary against the fares whose rules it meets.
  • A seller displays the result, often as a fare brand rather than the underlying code.

With NDC, an airline can instead build an offer per request; filed fares remain the basis of much indirect pricing alongside it.

FAQ

Questions

Something not covered? Write to contact@arcproxies.io.

Who owns ATPCO?

A group of airlines. Its owners include several large carriers from North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia, which is why it is described as airline-owned rather than independent.

Is ATPCO a GDS?

No. ATPCO collects and distributes fare data; GDSs use that data to search, price, book and ticket. It sits upstream of the systems agencies book in.

Can I access ATPCO fare data?

Only as a licensed commercial product. ARC does not provide ATPCO data; what proxies help with is collecting the public fares that airlines and agencies display on their own websites, which is a different dataset.

Does ATPCO set airfares?

No. Airlines set their own fares and rules; ATPCO publishes and distributes what they file.

Sources & review

Last reviewed by the ARC Proxies team. Prices are read from the live catalog at build time.

  1. [1]Wikipedia: ATPCO

In practice

Where atpco matters

Deep diveAirline faresCollect airline fares per point of sale: the same flight priced from each market, taxes itemised, one sticky session per search, billed per GB.Deep diveAirline route intelligenceTrack new airline routes from announcement to first flight: frequencies, aircraft, season dates and launch-fare pricing, for route development teams.GuideHow airline revenue management worksHow airlines decide seat availability: fare classes, nested booking limits, forecasting, overbooking, origin-destination control and continuous pricing.