Sabre May Not Regain Pre-Pandemic Financial Levels Until 2025
Photo Credit: A JAL plane departing from Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport. Travel tech firm Sabre has its headquarters near Dallas and helps airlines handle the computing needs of their operations and content distribution. Source: DFW. DFW Airport / DFW Airport
Skift Take
Sabre's rebound will depend on a snapback in long-haul business travel, which has lagged the domestic leisure recovery. Yet the travel technology firm is wise to keep spending on much-needed system improvements despite the financial headwinds.
The dream of a return to 2019 levels of profitability looks like a long-haul journey for Sabre, the travel technology company that helps airlines and hotels manage their distribution. The Southlake, Texas-based company said on Tuesday in an earnings report that it would take years to regain its pre-pandemic financial performance, partly due to a slow snapback of business travel and partly due to technology investments to stay agile.
"By 2025, we expect to exceed pre-Covid-19 levels for adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization, or a measure of profit], Adjusted EBITDA margin, operating income, and free cash flow," said Sabre CEO Sean Menke.
In its most optimistic scenario for 2022, Sabre will process travel bookings — which skew toward corporate travel and international trips — at 70 percent of 2019 levels. Under that scenario, the company forecasted on Tuesday it would deliver revenue of at least $2.8 b
