Philippine Airlines Leverages Hosted Option for Quick Implementation without Development Cost for Internal Reservation System; Others Benefiting from Hub Connectivity
SOUTHLAKE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 8, 2004– Sabre Airline Solutions today announced that airline carriers are implementing the SabreSonic Ticket offering as a way to lower costs and enhance operational efficiencies. The SabreSonic Ticket paperless solution is also emerging as an important tool for airline carriers in their move to support the recently announced International Air Transport Association (IATA) resolution to achieve 100 percent electronic ticketing by 2007. Among the more than 30 carriers moving towards paperless tickets via SabreSonic Ticket is Philippine Airlines, the leading carrier for the Philippines and surrounding areas. Philippine Airlines purchased SabreSonic Ticket as a stand-alone component of the full SabreSonic suite, taking advantage of the offering’s flexibility to move quickly to full e-ticketing capabilities. In addition, over 38 carriers have signed up for the interline hub offering that provides connectivity between carriers without having to have separate bilateral agreements. In each instance, these airlines save from $2 to $6 per ticket — a significant difference.
“SabreSonic Ticket provides the perfect solution for us,” said Kevin Hartigan-go, vice president of information systems at Philippine Airlines. “We want to achieve the cost savings of moving to a paperless process, but do not want to have to build and host a separate system to do so, nor desire to change our current reservations system. The component approach of SabreSonic Ticket provides the flexibility to do exactly what we want and when we want to move to a paperless environment while adding another positive customer service element as well.”
SabreSonic Ticket was launched by Sabre Airline Solutions in January 2004 as part of the full SabreSonic suite, the first and sole technology provider currently delivering passenger management solutions built on open systems architecture for critical airline operations such as pricing and shopping for airline travel, ticketing and day-of-travel operations. SabreSonic Ticket is the industry’s only full-service electronic ticketing solution, using open systems to support internal airline use, interline relationships and global distribution system (GDS) travel agency distribution.
“SabreSonic Ticket is a solution that fits low cost or full alliance carriers without burdensome development or infrastructure cost, and it provides fast implementation for quick time to market for the airlines,” said Gianni Marostica, president of Airline Passenger Solutions at Sabre Airline Solutions. “The announcement by IATA members this week to migrate to full electronic ticketing by 2007 demonstrates the desire by the airline community to move to a paperless environment, and we have already made the investments to get them there. It is a distinct advantage for our airline customers and prospective customers that we have the solution they need today rather than promise of things to come.”
With SabreSonic Ticket’s modular components, airlines can stay hosted on their independent reservations system while acquiring the ability to issue electronic tickets. The solution also offers multi-lateral Interline Electronic Ticketing Hub (IET) connectivity to airlines that have developed their own ET database solution, and provides carriers connectivity to transmit and receive messages with their interline partners without having to coordinate expensive individual bilateral agreements with each airline.
“The SabreSonic suite truly differentiates us in the marketplace,” Marostica continued. “No other industry provider can match our fully functional, state-of-the-art open systems suite. No other provider can offer the flexibility of stand-alone components. No other provider can address the needs of both full alliance and low-cost business models. And no other provider is currently hosting billions of dollars in airline direct e-commerce transactions. Clearly our push to get the SabreSonic new generation suite of offerings to market is paying off – helping our carrier customers worldwide cope with escalating costs threatening their hard-fought return to profitability.”
The SabreSonic Ticket offering delivers a solution that is integrated with front-line reservations, departure control systems and back-office revenue accounting environments. For carriers it eliminates escalating development costs through an established fee-per-electronic-ticket pricing structure rather than per-transaction or per-coupon fee.
About Sabre Airline Solutions
Sabre Airline Solutions, a Sabre Holdings company, is the world’s largest provider of software products, reservations and departure control systems and other passenger management systems, and consulting services that help airlines simplify operations and lower costs. Sabre Airline Solutions’ proven leadership is demonstrated by the growing number of airlines that leverage the technology and services: More than 200 airlines worldwide use Sabre Airline Solutions’ broad portfolio of smart solutions for decision-support tools to increase revenues and improve operations. More than 100 airlines worldwide rely on Sabre Airline Solutions for passenger management solutions, with 15 new carriers added and nine carrier renewals for SabreSonic Res advanced reservations 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, the Sabre Airline Solutions logo, SabreSonic and SabreSonic Ticket 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, Southlake
Kathryn Hayden, 682-605-2252
kathryn.hayden@sabre-holdings.com
SOURCE: Sabre Airline Solutions
