New agreement takes Virgin Australia’s modern revenue management practices to the next level by harnessing the power of Sabre’s AI-driven Retail Intelligence suite.
Deal includes Sabre and Virgin Australia’s commitment to a long-term GDS distribution agreement
SOUTHLAKE, Texas, Sept. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), a leading software and technology provider that powers the global travel industry, has strengthened and expanded its relationship with Virgin Australia to allow the carrier to deliver improved retailing capability while supporting its growth objectives. Through Sabre’s scalable, intelligent solutions, Virgin Australia will be able to create fares and offers alongside a future-focused distribution strategy to get those offers in front of the right buyers and travelers.
“We’ve had a strong and highly successful relationship with Virgin Australia for many years, so we’re delighted to build on that foundation with this augmented agreement,” said Roshan Mendis, Chief Commercial Officer, Sabre Travel Solutions. “Adding this suite of solutions will enable Virgin Australia to step into the future of modern airline retailing and demonstrates that Sabre technology is the choice of ambitious, future-focused airlines.”
Under the new strategic agreement, the carrier will deploy Sabre Air Price IQTM and Sabre Ancillary IQTM – two intelligent retailing solutions from its Retail Intelligence suite designed to help airlines increase traveler satisfaction and improve revenue management optimization. Powered by Sabre Travel AITM, these sophisticated solutions will enable Virgin Australia to use flight and market insights combined with advanced machine-learning models to move from static pricing rules to intelligent real-time airfare and ancillary offers.
Virgin Australia and Sabre have also renewed their multi-year distribution agreement to ensure Sabre-connected travel agencies can continue to shop, book and service Virgin Australia’s air and ancillary offers with speed and scalability.
“Virgin Australia guests sit at the heart of our business and it’s essential that our technology partners, like Sabre, can support us in delivering value and choice to customers,” said Dave Emerson, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Australia. “Our deeper alliance with Sabre will enable us to create better offers for customers, and then have the mechanism to ensure the right travel buyers and travelers can access them.”
Virgin Australia and Sabre have a strong, successful alliance, with the carrier using an extensive portfolio of Sabre solutions, including Sabre’s Passenger Service Solution (PSS), Fares Manager, E-commerce platform and Network Planning tools, as well as Sabre’s Revenue Optimizer and Dynamic Availability solutions. Now, the airline has added a powerful new set of artificial intelligence-driven Sabre tools to its technological arsenal as part of its ambitious future-focused strategy.
“We’re very excited to bring our new Retail Intelligence suite to Virgin Australia through this new deal. Our innovation partnership with Google is enabling us to deliver unique value to airlines and, in turn, to their passengers,” added Garry Wiseman, Chief Product Officer, Sabre Travel Solutions. “Adding these new solutions reflects Virgin Australia’s ambitions to move towards a continuous pricing model; delivering truly personalized experiences, while enhancing their marketplace position.”
Sabre Travel AI is powered by state-of-the-art AI technology and advanced machine-learning capabilities from Google. Sabre is integrating this proprietary technology into existing and new solutions to help customers to deliver highly relevant and personalized content more quickly and create expanded revenue and growth opportunities.
Since relaunching the airline in 2020, Virgin Australia has reset its strategy positioning itself as a value carrier in the marketplace. It has made significant investments in its people, fleet, and technology to build for the future, and is currently flying to 42 domestic and seven international destinations.
About Sabre Corporation
Sabre Corporation is a leading software and technology company that powers the global travel industry, serving a wide range of travel companies including airlines, hoteliers, travel agencies and other suppliers. The company provides retailing, distribution and fulfilment solutions that help its customers operate more efficiently, drive revenue and offer personalized traveller experiences. Through its leading travel marketplace, Sabre connects travel suppliers with buyers from around the globe. Sabre’s technology platform manages more than $260B worth of global travel spend annually. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre serves customers in more than 160 countries around the world. For more information visit www.sabre.com.
About Virgin Australia
Founded in the year 2000 by Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Australia is now one of the largest Australian airlines operating an extensive domestic network as well as short-haul international services, charter and cargo operations, and its loyalty program, Velocity Frequent Flyer. The Group employs more than 7,000 people and has been a competitor in the Australian aviation landscape for 22 years. Virgin Australia boasts more than 11 million Velocity members who can use their Points to redeem flights to over 500 destinations around the world through Virgin Australia and the airline’s extensive list of international partner carriers.
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