Israir Becomes World's First Airline to Adopt AI Agent ARD Standard
Israir has become the world's first airline to adopt the ARD standard, allowing AI agents to seamlessly discover and book flights via a dedicated digital catalog.
Israir, owned by businessman Rami Levy, has announced a technological milestone, becoming the first airline globally to adopt the ARD (Agentic Resource Discovery) standard, in collaboration with tech firm Bazak and the research department of Ora.
The new standard, developed under the auspices of the Linux Foundation by Google, Microsoft, and Ora's research division, defines how artificial intelligence agents discover and connect with brands.
The Shift to AI Travel Planning
This move comes against the backdrop of a dramatic shift in consumer habits, as travelers increasingly bypass traditional search engines in favor of personal AI agents such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude to find and plan their vacations.
As of June 2026, AI agent web traffic surpassed human traffic for the first time, reaching 57% compared to 43%. While companies previously invested heavily in search engine optimization (SEO) to rank first on Google, ARD serves as the modern equivalent for the AI era.
Secure Digital Catalog for AI Agents
As part of the initiative, Israir launched a secure, invisible-to-humans digital catalog on its website, functioning as a dedicated map for AI agents. The catalog enables agents to automatically identify Israir's services and integrate directly without needing to guess the website's structure.
The catalog connects to AirPlan AI, Israir's proprietary artificial intelligence agent operating on Bazak's operating system, which is already active on the company's website, WhatsApp, and ChatGPT.
"Ordinary passengers are used to searching for flights on search engines. Today they also ask an AI agent, and in the future the agent will make the booking for them. A company that AI agents cannot find will simply not be in the game," said Gabi Sagi, CIO of Israir.
Ora will monitor interaction quality and provide ongoing analytics to identify bottlenecks and improve external AI agents' access to purchasing systems within Israir.
