Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), the software and technology company that powers the global travel industry, has announced two milestones on the road to enabling NDC capabilities and creating the leading global marketplace for personalised travel.
Achieved in collaboration with travel agency Flight Centre Travel Group and an airline partner, Sabre is now Level 4 certified as an aggregator under the International Air Transport Association (IATA) NDC Certification Program. The achievement will help Sabre in its aim to increase access to leading content for all participants in the travel value chain and constitutes one of many enabling elements of the Sabre platform.
“Flight Centre Travel Group is delighted to have supported Sabre in achieving this milestone. As one of the largest leisure and business travel agencies in the world, our priority has always been to drive the NDC roadmap in order to ensure our customers benefit from the opportunities that NDC presents,” said John Beauvais, Global Head of Supply, Flight Centre Travel Group. “We have worked closely with Sabre as a lead partner in their “Beyond NDC” initiative to help achieve this over the last two years. However, in the post-Covid era, NDC will play an even greater role in travel distribution. The fact that Sabre is IATA Level 4 certified will enable our travel consultants to access an even wider choice of content and provide their customers with an even greater degree of personalisation.”
The certification confirms Sabre’s technical ability to support a set of criteria related to full offer and order management capabilities. It also demonstrates additional progress for Sabre in going beyond the NDC standards – to facilitate omnichannel retailing and distribution of intelligent airline offers and develop scalable capabilities for travel intermediaries.
Belavia leveraging Sabre’s NDC capabilities
Belavia – Belarusian Airlines became the first carrier globally to achieve IATA’s Level 3 certification using Sabre’s airline IT NDC capabilities, representing a meaningful step forward in the airline’s retailing evolution. A Sabre passenger service system (PSS) customer, Belavia also launched Sabre’s base level NDC capabilities across its network. Headquartered in Minsk, Belavia serves a network of routes between European cities and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as well as several Middle East destinations, making it an important provider of air travel in Central and Eastern Europe.
“As we ramp up our operations in response to the easing of global lockdowns, our customers are increasingly demanding personalised experiences and flexibility,” said Uladzimir Barkun, Deputy Director General, IT (CIO) of Belavia. “NDC plays a key role in enabling us to fulfil those expectations, helping us to market our content more effectively. Making our content available through all channels – including NDC – will ultimately help us in our recovery efforts, and we are grateful to Sabre for partnering with us to make this happen during such a difficult time for the travel industry.”
By harnessing data insights and intelligent algorithms, Sabre is enabling travel suppliers and sellers to retail, distribute and fulfil increasingly personalised and dynamic offers. Such content creates more relevant experiences for travelers and expands commercial opportunities for participants in the Sabre ecosystem of travel solutions.
“Noteworthy under any circumstance, these achievements are all the more remarkable given the challenges the industry faces amidst the COVID-19 pandemic”, said Kathy Morgan, vice president, Offer Sourcing, Sabre Travel Solutions. “NDC is one of many elements of Sabre’s platform, and this milestone is another step forward in pursuing our vision for travel that incorporates greater personalisation, expanded commercial opportunities and better experiences. I am grateful to our partners – among them FlightCentre and Belavia – who, while facing headwinds of their own, were highly engaged and instrumental to helping us take these important steps forward.”
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