Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), the leading provider of software and technology powering the global travel industry, has been recognized as a systems provider for both airlines and travel sellers in the Association’s Airline Retailing Maturity (ARM) Index. International Air Transport (IATA). This recognition is a testament to Sabre’s commitment to developing scalable capabilities to drive more personalized travel retailing that benefits both airlines and intermediaries.
“Airline retailing means putting the customer at the center of the air travel shopping/ordering/paying ecosystem. We are excited to see Sabre’s strong alignment with this vision as a Recognized Systems Provider in the ARM Index,” said Yanik Hoyles, IATA Director of Distribution.
Designed to assess the maturity of industry players in the journey to airline retail, the ARM Index replaces the previous IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC) and ONE Order certifications, and extends the scope of the program beyond the standards. technicians to recognize the benefits of value chain collaboration and value creation. Introduced in November 2021, the program is based on three pillars: Capability Check to measure technical skills to buy, order, pay, settle, post and set up; Implementing partnerships to determine the scalability of NDC-enabled offerings across the value chain; and Value Capture Compass to track potential value captured throughout the sales transformation journey.
“We are very proud of Sabre’s inclusion in the ARM Index and wholeheartedly welcome IATA’s move towards a more layered and multi-faceted view of airline retail,” said Kathy Morgan, vice president of channel delivery, Sabre Travel Solutions. . “From the beginning, we have approached NDC as a technical foundation to offer a more personalized traveler experience. We named our program “Beyond NDC” to signal a focus not only on ticking boxes on a technical capability checklist, but also on a longer-term business view and the value that NDC brings. Sitting at the crossroads of travel, we listen to our customers on both the supply and demand sides of our digital travel marketplace,
Sabre has a busy NDC roadmap set for the remainder of 2022 to continue advancing our capabilities. Dynamic air pricing for NDC offers will be available with the recently launched Air Price IQ™ product within the Sabre Retail Intelligence suite, which will enable airlines to optimize offers in real time with machine learning and data analytics capabilities market leaders. Support for exchanges will be added to the current cancellation, void and refund capabilities, providing robust service functionality. Radixx, which provides solutions for low-cost airlines, is also expected to be certified under the ARM index later this year as an airline IT provider.
Sabre is in discussions with more than 25 leading airlines about selling their NDC offerings through its digital marketplace. In addition to Singapore Airlines and Qantas, which combined are active in 50 markets and are beginning to roll out their NDC content in North and South America, Sabre is actively involved with Lufthansa Group, Qatar Airways and United Airlines, among many other airlines. These airlines’ NDC offers will be available in the coming months through Sabre’s Offer and Order APIs, the agency’s point of sale, Sabre Red 360, and the online booking tool, GetThere.