Sabre Airline Solutions Partners with Air China to Achieve Industry Best Practice Infrastructure

China’s Largest Commercial Airline Selects Sabre Airline Solutions’ Consulting Team for a Major Business Analysis of Its Airline Planning and Scheduling, Pricing, and Data Warehousing Practices

SOUTHLAKE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 7, 2004–Sabre Airline Solutions has been selected by China’s largest commercial airline, Air China, to conduct a gap analysis between Air China’s current airline planning and scheduling, pricing, and data warehousing practice and industry best practice.

Air China schedules over 400 flights weekly to more than 100 destinations worldwide through its Beijing hub with a fleet of over 70 aircraft. The airline has enlisted Sabre Airline Solutions to identify the requirements to bridge the gap between current business practices and industry best practice. The consulting team will conduct extensive research and analysis based on its industry knowledge and experience as the world’s industry leader in airline operations technology.

An assessment of each of the three business areas will identify the additional solutions needed to bring the carrier in line with industry best practice processes. The three areas — planning and scheduling, pricing, and data warehousing — are all critical to airline success and, once business gaps are identified and addressed, will be key areas to drive costs out of the business.

“We are very confident that such a thorough examination of our business by the consulting team at Sabre Airline Solutions will prove invaluable in addressing where we are in our business, and where we want to be,” said Jian Xiong Huang, deputy general manager, IT, Air China. “Once we have the report, we can allocate IT funds accordingly and target specific business issues with expertly recommended solutions.”

In addition to the three-month consulting project, Sabre Airline Solutions will develop a product implementation plan. This plan will provide Air China management with analysis that demonstrates an appropriate IT solution and cost for deploying that solution. The product implementation plan and analysis will make the entire IT purchasing process increasingly accountable and transparent for the management board and other stakeholders.

“Instituting a program of analysis like this before procurement represents the difference between blind navigation and consulting a map,” said Cameron Curtis, vice president, Asia Pacific, for Sabre Airline Solutions. “Air China will have all the information at their fingertips to enhance their decision-making structure. They will be able to make informed and strategic decisions based on a clear roadmap.”

“In today’s landscape, IT strategy is driven by our client’s business strategy, so IT needs to be much more accountable to business imperatives,” said James Sun, Sabre Airline Solutions consulting partner in China. “In the implementation phase we can support the transformation process and provide Change Management services. Ultimately, the consulting team aims to marry the IT recommendations to what we know about essential business requirements.”

Current Sabre Airline Solutions consulting customers in the Asia Pacific region include Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, Air China, Asiana Air, China Eastern, TravelSky and Dragon Air for work involving areas such as revenue management, IT strategy, airline operations control, CRM, data warehouse and crew productivity. Sabre Airline Solutions has a significant portfolio of analytical and optimization applications which provide the consulting team with a compelling competitive advantage. The comprehensive data and sophisticated tools enable teams to provide in-depth and executable strategies and solutions.

About Sabre Airline Solutions

Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE:TSG) is a world leader in travel commerce, retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at Sabre Airline Solutions, a Sabre Holdings company, is the world’s largest provider of software products, reservation and departure control systems and consulting services to help airlines simplify operations and lower costs. Over 200 airlines worldwide use Sabre Airline Solution’s broad portfolio of software solutions for decision-support tools to increase revenues and improve operations. Over 100 airlines worldwide rely on Sabre Airline Solutions for passenger management solutions, with 15 new carriers added and nine carriers renewals for SabreSonic Res advanced reservations and departure control systems in 2003. In addition, more than 100 clients worldwide have turned to Sabre Airline Solutions consulting group for strategic, commercial and operational consulting. More than 500 contracts worldwide were signed in 2003 within Sabre Airline Solutions.

Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE:TSG) is a world leader in travel commerce, retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com/.

Sabre Airline Solutions and the Sabre Airline Solutions logo are trademarks and/or service marks of an affiliate of Sabre Holdings Corporation. All other trademarks, service marks, and trade names are the property of their respective owners.


    CONTACT: Sabre Airline Solutions
             Kathryn Hayden, 682-605-2252
             kathryn.hayden@sabre-holdings.com

    SOURCE: Sabre Airline Solutions