At the T2RL PSS 2018 conference in London this week, Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR) launched its industry-first Digital Airline Commercial Platform (DACP) with Aeroflot, Ethiopian Airlines and Etihad Airways on board as launch partners. Announced earlier this year, the Commercial Platform delivers end-to-end personalized retailing and helps empower airlines to successfully retail, distribute and fulfil across all customer touchpoints.
As part of Sabre’s mission to reimagine the business of travel, Sabre’s Commercial Platform is the industry’s only platform to enable complete digital transformation through intelligent retailing that includes dynamic pricing capabilities, a flexible and open API hub, an ultra-fast shopping engine and a mobile-first, consumer-grade workspace for airport agents. Together, these solutions help empower airlines to deliver a unique brand experience and maximize revenue streams.
“The development of our new Digital Airline Commercial Platform marks a major advancement in the technological capabilities available to airlines,” said Dave Shirk, Sabre president of Travel Solutions.
“The platform gives airlines a competitive edge to differentiate themselves while further enhancing the travel experience with industry-first retailing capabilities. Success in today’s dynamic environment requires technology that will push the boundaries – the Commercial Platform we’re announcing today will transform the way airlines do business moving forward.”
The benefits of the Sabre Digital Airline Commercial Platform are already coming to life for some key airline partners. As airlines at the forefront of innovation, Russian carrier Aeroflot and leading African carrier Ethiopian Airlines are the launch partners for Sabre’s Digital Workspace, which will enable airport agents to deliver a seamless and personalized airport experience to customers via mobile devices.
This solution is a complete redesign of Sabre’s Interact Interface, equipping agents with workflows that eliminate the linear check-in approach and improving agent productivity by up to 30 percent compared to current processes.
“Investing in new capabilities is critical to our airline and guest experience, and Sabre’s digital technology will help us achieve our vision of becoming one of the world’s most innovative and customer-centric carriers,” said Ilia Perevalov, deputy chief information officer at Aeroflot. “In today’s digital world, our customers expect a reimagined air travel experience. As the Digital Workspace launch partner, we will transform the airport experience to be less stressful, more seamless and more personalized – taking another step towards becoming a truly digital airline.”
Ethiopian is also taking a leap towards digitization. “As the leading aviation group in Africa, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of aviation technology,” said Laeke Tadesse, chief information officer at Ethiopian Airlines. “As a beta partner for Sabre’s new Digital Workspace, we have already seen compelling results. The new solution dramatically reduces the amount of time our agents need to spend on their screens, enabling them to focus more on customer interaction. We are excited to quickly roll out this technology and believe it will give us a competitive edge by offering our passengers the seamless journeys they desire.”
Announced last month, Etihad is a launch partner for Dynamic Availability, the platform’s pricing optimization technology.
“Building solutions with real-world data and receiving continuous feedback from the airline are key ingredients to successful development,” said Bhaskara Rao Guntreddy, head of solutions and innovation at Etihad Airways. “During initial testing phases, Sabre’s fares optimization and dynamic pricing technology have already proven their potential to achieve incremental revenue growth. By using Dynamic Availability, our pricing analysts at Etihad can be more aligned to our business strategy.”
