Tag Archives: Sabre Corporation

Sabre Corporation and Air Seoul, Korea’s newest low-cost carrier (LCC) under the Kumho Asiana Group, have signed a multi-year global distribution agreement making Air Seoul content available to travel agents via a Global Distribution System (GDS) for the first time. The agreement between Air Seoul and Sabre will give 425,000 Sabre-connected travel agents access to even more low-cost flights and fares in the Sabre Travel Marketplace, which now includes content from over 100 LCCs globally. Air Seoul launched earlier this year, commencing domestic flights between Gimpo and Jeju in July. Last month it began its international operations, adding routes to Japan and Cambodia. “Gaining access to Sabre’s extensive network of travel buyers is a key component in our growth strategy and particularly important as we expand our operations internationally,” said Ryu Gwang-hee, president of Air Seoul. “Sabre has a vast global network of agencies using its travel marketplace which it pairs with a unique and very local approach to doing business with airlines in Asia Pacific – meaning we get the tailored support we need to market and sell our services effectively as we expand our network.” “We have a rapidly expanding portfolio of low-cost carriers distributing their fares through Sabre, making us a global leader in this area. But really importantly we’re pairing this rich content with a continued investment in technology innovation, which has allowed us to develop more advanced low fare shopping tools that help travel agents find the most relevant travel options for their customer, quickly and reliably – driving revenues for both the agent and the airline,” commented Roshan Mendis, senior vice president of Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific.

Sabre Corporation and its partner in the payment space Conferma have integrated the Sabre Virtual Payment solution for air tickets into the Sabre Red Workspace used by more than 425,000 agents around the world. An industry first, the enhanced digital payment capability is offered as a new standard form of payment, giving agents the ability to generate virtual cards as part of existing ticketing and payment processes. The new payment method will be listed alongside credit cards, cash or check options, providing flexibility within a seamless payment process for the agency, corporation and the traveller. The standard payment integration eliminates the need for mid/back office providers and online corporate booking tools such as GetThere to modify their business processes and incur additional technical expenses. “The new black” for air ticketing payments, Sabre Virtual Payments gives agents the option to set credit limits, apply date restrictions and define merchant categories – a set of controls that help agents to pay more efficiently while reducing the risk of fraud. Sabre’s Virtual Payment can be used at time of ticketing, refunding and exchanging, and it can be stored in customers’ preferences through the Sabre Profiles capability. “For each air ticket, the traditional forms of payment challenge travel agents with high risk of fraud, exposing corporate accounts and requiring extra time for reconciliation. A more secure and efficient way to pay is now available for Sabre-connected agencies, and it is part of the core reservation flow in the Sabre Red Workspace and Sabre APIs,” said Neil Fyfe, vice president of Virtual Payments at Sabre. “In addition when using virtual payments within the GetThere booking tool, we provide incremental detailed reconciliation data available for expense …

Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier for Indonesia, has partnered with Sabre AirCentre Enterprise Operations portfolio, making Sabre Corporation its primary airline operations technology provider. Sabre technology will power connect airline operations, improving airline profitability and customer experience as Garuda pushes international expansion. Sabre Airline Solutions’ Operations and Crew Technology Platform will enhance Garuda’s aircraft tracking, disruption control and prevention, and crew management operations. “Southeast Asia’s airlines operate in an environment of resource-constrained infrastructure and volatile weather conditions. We are working with carriers in the region to create a more connected airline that can optimise operations regardless of these regional challenges. Using more flexible, reliable and scalable technology, Garuda will improve crew and fleet utilisation and safety, drive operational efficiencies and introduce quicker schedule recovery –ensuring a better and more consistent traveller experience,” says Dasha Kuksenko, Vice President and Regional General Manager, Sabre Airline Solutions, Asia Pacific. Garuda recorded a 13.4 percent increase in available seat kilometers (ASK) in first quarter of 2016. Benny Butarbutar, Vice President-Corporate Communications, Garuda Indonesia, added that Sabre’s technology will support the airlines’ growth plans. “Sabre’s enterprise operations solutions will give us a far more sophisticated approach to managing our operations, crew and the impact of disruptions. This in turn will help us improve profitability and drive customer loyalty. As we pursue further international network growth, which is critical to our long-term strategy, the platform will also help us streamline operations across multiple geographies,” said Benny.

Sabre Corporation has partnered with Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN) to offer 63,000 new hotel properties to its marketplace. Travel consultants and agencies will now have access to the EAN rates and availability through the Sabre GDS. “Travel agencies will have more hotel options to offer their customers. Additionally, more hotels in the Sabre travel marketplace will have the ability to merchandise their products, property attributes and personalise offerings to travelers. These are just a few ways Sabre provides hoteliers products to differentiate themselves and that is a powerful tool for travel buyers.” said Shelly Terry, Vice President-Travel Product Solutions, Sabre Travel Network. Agents can easily shop and book properties through the Sabre Red Workspace. The additional properties are a wide range of property types, including full-service hotels and resorts, bread and breakfasts and small inns, airport hotels, boutique hotels, budget hotels, and serviced apartments. While the new hotel content covers all regions, many of the properties are in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, typically where hotel property content is known for being highly fragmented. The additional rates and availability from EAN expands Sabre’s robust hotel content of more than 750,000 properties, through the combination of its travel marketplace and network of hotel aggregator partners. Agents will now be able to offer more options to travelers, increasing more business and commission opportunities. “Expedia Affiliate Network is excited to bring thousands of new properties across the globe to Sabre’s valued partner network. Expedia is continuing to grow hotel supply by thousands of hotels each month and the Sabre agent community will have the ability to deliver more solutions to their customers,” states Christian Gerron, Vice President-Sales, Expedia Affiliate Network.

Sabre Corporation has announced that it will set up a Quality Assurance Center of Excellence (CoE) at Indira Gandhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW) in Delhi to build an ecosystem of industry-ready test engineers. “The incubation center is a first of its kind in the Indian market focused towards an all women technical university and will bring awareness of test engineering practices, processes and the critical role it plays in the software development lifecycle,” said Shail Maniar, Vice President and Managing Director, Sabre India. “With complex and mission critical software products being built at Sabre’s development center in Bangalore, we see an increased demand for trained test engineers in automation, performance engineering and big data testing. We believe this program will benefit IGDTUW, the industry and Sabre.” Sabre and IGDTUW signed a memorandum of understanding to set up the knowledge center that will nurture student skills on industry standard test engineering practices through a combined program of workshops and webinars at IGDTUW, Delhi and a six month internship program at Sabre’s development center in Bangalore. On successful participation in the CoE program and completion of the internship, Sabre will also facilitate International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) certification for students based on their performance. “I am very happy to learn that Sabre is establishing a Quality Assurance CoE at IGDTUW. The center will provide hands-on training to the Masters in Computer Application (MCA) students of IGDTUW in using Quality Assurance tools effectively, while developing an insight into the latest software testing techniques used in the IT industry, ” said Nupur Prakash, Vice Chancellor, IGDTUW. “This would give them an opportunity to learn and use Quality Assurance tools from industry experts, which …