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Ethiopian Airlines Renews SabreSonic Agreement With Minimum Commitment of $110 Million.

An Ethiopian Boeing 777 rotates out of Washington Dulles. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

Ethiopian Airlines and Southlake, Texas-based Sabre Corporation, announced they have renewed their long-standing strategic partnership in passenger management systems for yet another seven-year with a minimum commitment of $110 million.

Under the renewed agreement, Ethiopian airlines will continue to use Sabre’s passenger service system – SabreSonic – enabling it to automate sales and service, and helping it to maximize revenue opportunities and create efficient airport experiences for travellers.

Sabre’s Intelligence Exchange will also help enhance the airline’s passenger experience by providing intelligent real-time insights to help make more informed business decisions.

“Despite the effects of the pandemic, Ethiopian Airlines continues to be one of aviation’s greatest success stories,” said Dino Gelmetti, Vice President EMEA, Sabre Travel Solutions.

“COVID-19 has accelerated airline competitive pressure and the need for digital transformation, and as Africa’s strongest carrier, Ethiopian Airlines was able to quickly adapt to the changing landscape, further strengthening its position as recovery gains momentum,” he added.

The expanded agreement will also include Sabre’s Dynamic Availability – which will help Ethiopian airlines earn incremental revenue by enabling proactive response to ever-changing travel conditions with an optimized pricing solution – and Sabre’s Group Optimizer to help the East African carrier optimize the processes for managing group reservations, an area difficult for many airlines to streamline today.

Sabre’s solutions are overall expected to provide the airline with a competitive advantage by providing intelligent recommendations based on market demand and competition.

“At Ethiopian, having robust and cutting-edge technology in place plays a key role in our success story,” said Tewolde Gebremariam, Group CEO, Ethiopian Airlines.

“The pandemic created many unknowns in the travel industry, and Sabre’s intelligent technology will help us quickly understand and adapt to the new landscape. As travel starts to recover, it’s crucial that we remain laser-focused on driving profitability and growth.

“Our extended technology partnership with Sabre will support us moving toward a more flexible and modern environment while driving operational efficiencies.”

Sabre’s robust travel platform and security solutions provide the technology on which airlines, agencies and hoteliers rely with the suite using among the broadest array of innovative technology in the industry to help airlines market, sell, serve customers and operate more effectively.

Ethiopian Airlines migrated off a SITA system and onto the SabreSonic Passenger Solutions technology platform in 2006.

Interline Agreement with Airlink

Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines continues to implement various partnership agreements with African and global carriers to further expand its accessibility to its customers.

The Star Alliance member announced an interline agreement together with South Africa’s Airlink which seeks to attract more customers providing ease of connectivity to their destinations served by both Ethiopian and Airlink while customers enjoy seamless travel with a single ticket and lower fare tickets between points within the carriers’ networks.

While Airlink provides services between smaller, under-served towns and larger hub airports the airline will act as a feeder carrier for customers from southern Africa who will benefit from more than 60 African destinations.

Victor Shalton

Author

  • Victor Shalton

    Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Victor’s love for aviation goes way back to when he was 11-years-old. Living close to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, he developed a love for planes and he even recalls aspiring to be a future airline executive for Kenya Airways. He also has a passion in the arts and loves writing and had his own aviation blog prior to joining AirlineGeeks. He is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration at DeKUT and aspiring to make a career in a more aviation-related course.

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