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