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Sabre (SABR) Expands NDC Capabilities & Singapore Airlines Deal

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Sabre Corporation (SABR - Free Report) focuses on its efforts to integrate NDC offerings with its platform, to add value to the travel industry.

The company recently announced that it has made certain advancements to its online booking platform, GetThere, to enable business travelers to choose policy-compliant NDC offers along with traditional content. Travel Management companies will be able to take NDC bookings through Sabre Red 360, by using GetThere.

Also, Sabre was certified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as an NDC Level 4 capable IT provider, further testifying its technical and order management capabilities.

Apart from the aforementioned announcements, the company expanded NDC offerings from Singapore Airlines, to enable select Sabre-connected travel agents in Singapore to book unique NDC (New Distribution Capability) content through the KrisConnect program, under Sabre’s global distribution system (GDS).

Singapore Airlines, a member of IATA's NDC Leaderboard, has been part of Sabre’s Beyond NDC program since 2018. Notably, this partnership extends the NDC program, KrisConnect, expanding the digital distribution capabilities of both companies.

 

However, in the last reported quarter, Sabre’s GDS revenues slumped 79% due to significant reductions in air, hotel and other travel bookings due to the pandemic’s adverse impacts on the global travel industry.

Nonetheless, the growing traction of Sabre’s travel network solutions among airlines globally is expected to help the company stay afloat in the current uncertain environment.

Deal Wins & Advancements to Aid Recovery

The recent announcements on NDC-capable solutions and collaboration with Singapore Airlines add to the string of advancements by the company in the past few months.

In December last year, Sabre inked an agreement with the Lufthansa Group airlines to continue to distribute the latter’s content to travel agencies and corporate travel departments through its global distribution system (GDS). With the help of Sabre’s NDC technology solution, Lufthansa Group airlines can personalize retailing by providing personalized price offers to travel buyers.

In the same month, LATAM Airlines, South America's longest-serving airline, implemented Sabre’s Select Shopping solutions on the carrier's website and call center. Additionally, Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, introduced new fares using Sabre’s branded fares technology.

Moreover, in November last year, the company’s Revenue Optimizer solution was implemented by Croatia Airlines and GOL Airlines, Brazil’s leading domestic airline. Further, the company extended its partnership with Qantas to provide information to the agents about the airline’s fares, products and services.

A business contract from Global Travel and Tourism started bringing some respite to Sabre from the negative impacts of the travel restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the agreement, one of the leading travel agencies in Saudi Arabia adopted Sabre’s intelligent platform — Sabre Red 360.

The steady announcements of partnerships and other technological enhancements reflect that global tour and travel agencies are preparing for the post-coronavirus era. Furthermore, countries across the world have started reopening their economies. This would steadily boost travel demand in the near future, which is encouraging for Sabre.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Sabre currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector are Skyworks Solutions (SWKS - Free Report) , Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (VSH - Free Report) , and Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The long-term earnings growth rate for Skyworks Solutions, Vishay Intertechnology and Micron are currently pegged at 18.98%, 20.26% and 9.21%, respectively.

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