Total Revenue Optimization: An executive’s point of view

We sat down with a member of Sabre’s executive team to discuss Total Revenue Optimization. We posed our question to Darren Rickey, Sabre AirVision, Vice President of Marketing and Planning. Q: We are now hearing the term ‘Total Revenue Optimization’ or ‘TRO’ being referenced quite often by Sabre. Can you tell us what TRO is? Darren Rickey: TRO, or Total Revenue Optimization within the airline industry means being able to successfully identify and understand the profile of the individual(s) traveling, the different customer segments that want to travel and what products and experience these travelers are looking for – which reverts back to the motivation of why people are actually traveling. It is about an airline understanding how they are able to get more share of wallet, knowing what types of customers are traveling on their network, and being able to identify customer buying patterns in order to follow and produce relevant offerings to generate the highest revenue returns. TRO is also about airlines having a more holistic perspective of the revenue picture including codeshare agreements, and what implication these partners have on their network, and their overall revenue picture. In summary, total revenue optimization offers a comprehensive, 360-degree approach to managing all sources of airline revenue by incorporating new data into the traditional revenue-management process to maximize revenue generation from all possible sources.