Sabre and South African Airways sign new multi-year technology agreement

Airline to make all fares and inventory available in the Sabre travel marketplace

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Oct 27, 2014, 10:56 ET

JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sabre Corporation and South African Airways have signed a new multi-year agreement to make the carrier's airfares and inventory available in the Sabre global distribution system.

The agreement provides Sabre travel agencies and corporations globally with access to the airline's full range of fares, schedules and availability including published fares sold through the airline's own website and reservations offices.

"We have a long and successful partnership with South African Airways to market and sell their products and services, and to support their expansion and growth in new markets," said Greg Webb, president, Sabre Travel Network. "South Africa is an important new market for Sabre and we are especially pleased to renew our agreement at a time we are seeing strong interest from the industry."

Sylvain Bosc, chief commercial officer at South African Airways said: "Sabre is an important technology partner for us, which has been strengthened by their launch and growth in South Africa, and across the African continent. Sabre provides us with an easy and efficient way to market and sell our fares the way we want to, and continues to be a very valuable channel for reaching high-yielding corporate travelers."

Sabre's travel marketplace plays an important role in facilitating the marketing and sale of airfares, ancillary services, hotel rooms, rental cars, rail tickets and other types of travel, to more than 400,000 travel agents and thousands of corporations who use it to shop, book and manage travel. It is one of the world's largest marketplaces, processing over $100 billion in estimated travel spend.

South African Airways joins all other major African and global carriers around the world in signing long-term airline distribution agreements with Sabre, including British Airways, Iberia, Egypt Air, Emirates, Etihad and Air France.

Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR) is a leading technology provider to the global travel and tourism industry. Sabre's software, data, mobile and distribution solutions are used by hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotel properties to manage critical operations, such as passenger and guest reservations, revenue management, and flight, network and crew management. Sabre® also operates a leading global travel marketplace, processing over $100 billion of estimated travel spend in 2013 by connecting travel suppliers to their most valued customers, the business traveler. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre operates offices in approximately 60 countries around the world.

About South African Airways
South African Airways (SAA), Africa's most awarded airline, operates from Johannesburg, South Africa, to 38 destinations worldwide.
In its domestic market SAA has an extensive schedule operating 554 flights in total per week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth, from its Johannesburg hub, as well as code-shared flights between Lanseria – Cape Town and Durban. SAA offers more frequencies than any other airline in South Africa.
Regionally, SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent including Abidjan, Accra, Blantyre, Brazzaville, Cotonou, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Douala, Entebbe, Harare, Kinshasa, Lagos, Libreville, Lilongwe, Livingstone, Luanda, Lusaka, Maputo, Mauritius, Nairobi, Ndola, Pointe Noire, Victoria Falls and Windhoek.
SAA's international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes and code shares, with daily flights from Johannesburg to London (Heathrow), Frankfurt, Munich, Mumbai, Perth, Hong Kong, Beijing, New York, Washington, and Sao Paulo. SAA has code share agreements with 29 other airlines across the markets it serves. The airline has extended its code share agreement with Mango, its low cost operator, to also include coastal cities in South Africa (between Johannesburg and Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and George), as well as Johannesburg – Bloemfontein; Cape Town - Bloemfontein and Cape Town - Port Elizabeth.
SAA's core business is the provision of passenger airline and cargo transport services together with related services, which are provided through SAA and its four wholly owned subsidiaries: SAA Technical; Mango its low cost carrier; Air Chefs, the catering entity of SAA and South African Travel Centre (SATC).
SAA is a Star Alliance member which offers more than 18,500 daily flights to 1,316 airports in 192 countries. SAA is the winner of the 'Best Airline in Africa' Award in the regional category for twelve consecutive years. Mango and SAA hold the number one and number two successive spots as South Africa's most on-time airlines.