Travel Network revenue increased 6.1% to $663.5 million, compared to $625.5 million for the same period in 2016, supported by robust bookings in all major regions of the world.
Singapore – Global travel technology leader Sabre Corporation reported its first quarter 2017 financial results this week.
Sabre president and CEO Sean Menke said Sabre got off to a solid start in the first quarter, with stronger than expected revenue growth. “The macro global travel environment was supportive of growth in travel, and helped drive strong bookings, passengers boarded and hotel transaction growth across our businesses in the quarter,” said Menke.
Global highlights as follows:
- First quarter consolidated revenue increased 6.5% to $915.4 million, compared to $859.5 million the year prior.
- Airline and Hospitality Solutions revenue grew 8.2% to $258.0 million compared to $238.4 million for the same period in 2016. This was supported by 7.1% growth in passengers boarded and a strong increase in hotel transactions.
- Travel Network revenue increased 6.1% to $663.5 million, compared to $625.5 million for the same period in 2016, supported by robust bookings in all major regions of the world
Regional and business highlights:
- Travel Network global bookings increased 5.8% in the quarter, driven by 9.6% growth in Asia-Pacific, 8.6% growth in EMEA, and 3.2% growth in North America. Bookings increased 8.4% in Latin America in the quarter, the strongest growth seen in that region since 2013.
- Hospitality Solutions saw several wins including new customer Grand Hotels and an expanded agreement with Two Roads Hospitality. Successful CRS implementations included Oak Hotels and Resorts and Hospitality International.
- Travel Network signed its first-ever full content agreement with Hertz rental cars, and renewed Corporate Travel Management (CTM), to a new long-term agreement in APAC. CTM is a fast-growing global agency that is leveraging a suite of offerings to support the continued growth of their business, including making use of Sabre Red API’s, as well as broad adoption of GetThere, Sabre Virtual Payments and Traveler Security and Automated Exchanges.
- Airline Solutions also had a number of new wins, including the SabreSonic passenger reservation win at PAWA Dominicana, a Caribbean carrier. LATAM Airlines also signed up for Sabre’s data-driven platform, Intelligence Exchange, while Thai Lion and Malaysia’s Malindo Airlines completed the implementation of Movement Manager.
Menke highlighted the importance of key products, such as its new Sabre Red Workspace, to meeting the future needs of airlines and agencies. “The New Sabre Red Workspace is an important component of our distribution offering. Our customers want to take a more holistic view of distribution going forward, with the ability to leverage all sales channels to optimize their revenues, networks, and customer experiences. As carriers look to personalize and customize their offerings, they need to bring together insights from the direct and indirect channels to have a keener point of view of the customer. As a leading provider of PSS systems and GDS technology, we have a unique position to enable this shift and deliver capabilities and insights from across all points of sale,” he said.
Menke also noted Sabre’s increasing investments in its technology infrastructure. “From 2013 through 2016, we increased overall annual technology spending from $762 million to nearly $1 billion. This investment drove innovation and supported the evolution of our technology architecture and platform solutions to take advantage of more efficient, stable and secure solutions. We are also migrating and re-architecting our shopping and booking systems, to evolve with changing business models around increased consumer and industry shopping trends.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
