Sabre Holdings Corporation
today announced a slate of reservations and departure control enhancements designed to allow airlines to nimbly respond to changes in the marketplace and leverage advanced technology to simplify operations.

The new capabilities launched today are the first of Sabre Airline Solutions` planned 2003 quarterly product enhancement announcements to its reservations and departure control system.

The focus of the 2003 reservations and departure control systems enhancements is to give airlines a competitive advantage through enhanced customer service capabilities, reduce their costs through ease of use and efficiency, and to maximize revenues with improved sales and marketing capabilities.

One of the most significant enhancements of the first quarter release is the new Control Center, a web-based graphical interface that enables airlines to control and configure every aspect of the sales and check-in process. Easy-to-use screens guide the system administrator through processes such as flight scheduling, configuring inventory to differentiate based on point-of- sale data, maintaining codeshare agreements and customizing sales and check-in workflows. Sabre Airline Solutions is the first in the industry to provide an easy-use interface for this complex process.

 

 

“Sabre Airline Solutions continues to make significant investments in our reservations and departure control product portfolio and remains committed to employing the full power of leading edge technology to help our airline customers better compete,” said Gianni Marostica, president of the Airline Reservations division of Sabre Airline Solutions. “In fact, these enhancements were built on Sabre`s next generation pricing and shopping platform, which fully leverages the advantages of open systems. These are just the first of the enhancements we have planned for 2003, however. Every quarter this year the global airline industry will see Sabre Airline Solutions launching new products and functionalities based on suggestions and requests from our airline customers and developed to meet real industry challenges.

“In today`s constrained market, functionality that improves customer service to provide a competitive advantage and improve operating efficiency is critical to many airlines` future. Our newly launched reservation and departure control product enhancements are designed to help them do just that,” Marostica noted.

Recent industry studies show that the outsourcing of passenger reservations and departure control systems provides airlines an opportunity to draw on the expertise of outsourcing providers to update the technology base while removing large amounts of fixed costs. A dedicated system gives the airline maximum control, but at a very high cost and also a reduced ability to react rapidly to market changes. With more than 70 percent of worldwide passengers booked through a hosted reservations system today, airlines of all sizes and in all stages of growth have realized these cost control benefits. Many have gained a competitive edge from outsourcing their reservations and departure control functionality.
Related stories on ITN:

(21/03/2003) Hawaiian Airlines Selects Sabre Solution

(12/03/2003) Japan Airlines Signs E-ticketing Agreement With Sabre

(25/02/2003) Sabre offers e-tickets for bmi

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