Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, has started rolling out Sabre software, following the billion dollar technology agreement signed by the two companies last year.

The implementation of Sabre’s catering software kicks off the largest technology project in the airline’s history, as it migrates all business operations to Sabre software, including rolling out Sabre’s passenger reservations software.

Lee Shave, Etihad Airways’ vice president for guest experience, said: “This allows us to better manage, audit and analyse important processes such as meal forecasting and equipment demand. The enhanced control means we should make savings in excess of $5 million per annum, while continuing to provide a world-class and award-winning guest experience onboard.” 

Sabre’s in-flight catering software is the industry’s only integrated solution that will allow Etihad Airways to manage all meal and catering services from a single platform.

Maher Koubaa, Sabre Airline Solutions’ vice president in the Middle East and Africa, said: “We have a significant partnership with Etihad Airways and it’s great to see the project start.

“Every year we invest hundreds of millions of dollars in technology to help airlines like Etihad enhance their operations, improve customer service and ultimately drive more revenue, and we will be working with them closely over the coming years to help them grow.”

Using the software, the airline can more accurately cater for in-flight meals, special requests, and centrally control the onboard product requirements to improve consistency across the network.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad will also make savings by reducing meal wastage through improved forecasting, and by better auditing of caterer invoices.

The technology brings together what is currently a multi-layered manual process into a fully automated single platform for the entire in-flight service supply chain.

This helps to streamline operations and reduce operational complexity.

The technology was implemented using Sabre’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) hosted infrastructure and followed an intense customer consultation. 

Shave added Etihad Airways picked the Sabre SaaS model because of the speed to market and the cost benefits.

Etihad Airways is considered the World’s Leading Airline by the World Travel Awards.