Sabre Preps for a World Where Global Corporate Travel Lags a Broader Rebound
Photo Credit: A United Airlines 787 Dreamliner. This week United said it had extended its global distribution agreement where it provides travel agents access to its airfares and other content through the Sabre travel marketplace. United
Skift Take
A crisis makes reputations. Sabre's top bosses have seen the pandemic render useless their old playbook for handling a collapse in demand. They have to get creative.
Over a few decades, Sabre has managed to bounce back after recessions. After crises in 2001 and 2008, the Southlake, Texas-based travel technology business returned to fat years after living through lean ones without much delay.
But the pandemic may delay a rebound in international corporate travel relative to other sectors. That could be problematic for Sabre. International corporate travel fuels some of its most profitable activities.
Sabre derives the bulk of its software-processing revenue from helping airlines sell plane tickets through travel management companies and leisure agencies like Expedia and helping airlines manage their operations. Roughly a quarter of its income comes from helping hotels and other travel companies with marketing and distribution.
International Impact
Sabre saw international corporate travel evaporate in the second quarter.
"Normally we'd see corporate being 50 to 55 percent of bookings [Sabre processes] with leisure as 45 to 50 percent of bo
