Sabre Signs Distribution And Merchandising Agreement With Virgin Australia

Australian airline to gain insights, and market and sell fares and ancillaries through the Sabre GDS

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Oct 08, 2015, 08:07 ET

SOUTHLAKE, Texas, Oct. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), the leading technology provider to the global travel industry, today announced a new agreement to provide content, merchandising solutions and Sabre Marketplace Analytics to Virgin Australia.

Using Sabre's industry-first data analytics technology, Virgin Australia will be able to view shopping activity made within the Sabre travel marketplace for their routes, and generate insights that drive incremental revenue and increased yield.

Additionally, Virgin Australia will be able to market and sell airfares as well as ancillary products and optional extras such as seats with extra legroom through Sabre using industry technology standards developed by ATPCo and IATA. The electronic miscellaneous document (EMD) standard allows an agent to efficiently purchase an airline's ancillary products on behalf of travellers in the same way they would purchase a base airfare. This will enable Virgin Australia to make their ancillary products broadly available and easy to buy through all channels.

"Virgin Australia is an important Sabre customer and we are wholly committed to supporting their global growth across all their sales channels," said Roshan Mendis, senior vice president, Sabre, Asia Pacific. "Our investments in industry-leading technology and data analytics give Virgin Australia an edge by providing unique insights that they can use to convert travel demand into bookings. Additionally, our merchandising capabilities enable Virgin Australia to market and sell their fares and ancillaries in a way that's easy for corporations, travel management companies, travel agencies and consumers to shop and book."

This new agreement follows Virgin Australia's recent decision to renew and expand its technology agreement with Sabre for SabreSonic Customer Sales & Service (CSS) reservations system.

Virgin Australia Chief Commercial Officer Judith Crompton said: "Sabre's technology will make it easier for agents to purchase our fares, ancillaries and optional extras, while enabling us to share details of our products and services. Our agreement with Sabre will help to drive revenue and support our goal to provide a seamless, world-class customer experience to all of our passengers."

Virgin Australia joins more than 400 global carriers that leverage Sabre technology to market and sell airfares and ancillaries.

About Sabre Corporation
Sabre Corporation is the leading technology provider to the global travel industry. Sabre's software, data, mobile and distribution solutions are used by hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotel properties to manage critical operations, including passenger and guest reservations, revenue management, flight, network and crew management. Sabre also operates a leading global travel marketplace, which processes more than $110 billion of estimated travel spend annually by connecting travel buyers and suppliers. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre serves customers in more than 160 countries around the world.

ABOUT VIRGIN AUSTRALIA GROUP
Virgin Australia Group (ASX: VAH) is a major Australian airline group that operates domestic and international regular passenger services, charter and cargo services and the loyalty program Velocity Frequent Flyer. The Group employs around 10,000 people in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Virgin Australia launched in 2000 and has since established itself as a contemporary, full-service airline with a reputation for exceptional customer service. It is the second largest airline in Australia and has a combined network of more than 450 destinations with its four alliance partners: Air New Zealand, Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines. Virgin Australia has developed an extensive flight network across regional Australia and provides Charter and Cargo services. It operates a modern fleet of around 140 aircraft that includes Airbus A330, Airbus A320, Boeing 777, Boeing 737, Embraer 190, ATR-72 turboprop, Fokker 100 and Fokker 50 aircraft.

MEDIA CONTACT
Daniel Duarte
Sabre, Corporate PR
[email protected]
+1 (214) 236-9473

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SOURCE Sabre Corporation