Sabre Signals Corporate Travel May Recover Quicker Than Some Expected
Photo Credit: The airport control tower in Charlotte, North Carolina, that's run by American Airlines. Source: American Airlines. Getty Images
Skift Take
A corporate travel rebound is in the offing, says new data from tech firm Sabre. Bill Gates may have to eat his words, given his dire 2020 prediction about business travel.
Sabre, a travel technology vendor with a rare view of corporate travel trends, said on Tuesday it's seeing corporate bookings recover steadily. That news defied a much-cited prediction by Microsoft founder Bill Gates that business travel might remain down by double-digit percentages for years after the pandemic began.
"We're encouraged," said Sabre CEO Sean Menke during an earnings call. "The underlying piece of this is that corporations are happy to have their employees back on the road. So, unless there's a hiccup relative to more covid cases, we're moving towards recovery."
Sabre's report echoed other signals. U.S. carrier Southwest last week reported that its corporate travel revenue in March exceeded March 2019's level, another sign of a nascent recovery.
Southlake, Texas-based Sabre earns the bulk of its software-processing revenue from helping airlines sell plane tickets through travel management companies
