Sabre has reported revenue gains across its three main divisions for the second quarter of 2019.
The Travel Network saw a marginal increase of 0.7% to about $725 million in revenue while Airline Solutions was up 3.4% to around $212 million over the same period.
Hospitality Solutions, meanwhile, was the standout performer with Sabre reporting an increase of more than 8% to about $74 million.
The gains in hospitality were attributed to growth in transactions flowing through Sabre-powered central reservation systems.
Second quarter revenue for Sabre as a whole increased 1.6% to $1 billion, with adjusted operating income down from about $172 million in Q2 2018 to $127 million for the same quarter this year.
The decline was attributed to increased technology expenses in the three-month period.
In the Travel Network, Sean Menke, the company’s president and CEO, highlights strong gains in GDS share with an 8% bookings increase in North America.
He claims it is the sixth consecutive quarter of GDS share gains for Sabre.
In Airline Solutions, Menke notes a 15% increase in AirVision and AirCentre commercial and operations revenue for the quarter.
Meanwhile, the Sabre boss says hospitality solutions sales targets have been exceeded for the fourth consecutive reporting period.
He also points to recent launches such as the company’s Airline Commercial Platform and its Hospitality Intelligent Retailing Platform and talked of “accelerating new innovations to differentiate” the company.
The deal to acquire Farelogix for $360 million, first announced in November 2018, also got a mention with Menke saying the company continues to highlight the benefits to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority.
He also says the company is writing to major airline CEO’s around the world to say Sabre would “continue supporting our customers’ retailing and distribution strategies, regardless of channel.”
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Responding to a question during the analyst call, Menke also touches on the changing distribution dynamics in Europe.
He says that while the U.S. has gone through a shift in the mid-2000s with new agreements with carriers and renegotiations with travel agents, change is now happening in Europe with carriers such as British Airways-parent International Airline Group, Air France/KLM and Lufthansa now “focused on the competitive environment and cost of distribution."
“This is where you see the model evolving," Menke says. "That’s the pressure you are seeing in the European marketplace and you will continue to see that evolving.”