A nine-month lawsuit by the U.S. government to stop Sabre's deal to buy Farelogix is over after a court ruled in favor of the travel technology and distribution giant.
The victory for Sabre in a Delaware courthouse on Monday is the first of two hurdles it hopes to pass this week, paving the way for it to complete its acquisition of Farelogix for $360 million from November 2018.
The U.S. Department of Justice launched its lawsuit in August last year, claiming the deal would eliminate competition that has, so far, "substantially benefited airlines and consumers."
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It claimed the integration of Farelogix into the Sabre family of airline distribution services would "likely result in higher prices, reduced quality and less innovation for airlines."
Sabre, in response, said it would fight the lawsuit and believed that the deal would be completed. It also said the suit's claims "lack a basis in reality and reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the industry."
Sabre is now awaiting a ruling from the U.K.'s Competition & Markets Authority, due on April 9.
A statement from a Sabre official says the CMA had "previously stated that it has ‘provisionally decided that prohibition of the merger represents the only effective remedy’ to its competition concerns."
The ruling will be seen as a much-needed slice of good news for Sabre after the protracted court case and amid uncertain times for the business as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Announcing a $200 million cost-saving plan in March, CEO Sean Menke said the industry is "facing challenges beyond what has been experienced before."
Background
Last August, the DoJ claimed Farelogix had "stepped in to address the needs of airlines" all the while Sabre has operated outdated technology and resisted innovation.
In other words, Farelogix, one of the champions of IATA's New Distribution Capability project, was catching the eye of airlines that wanted to move forward.
Buying the company would give Sabre an opportunity to leap-frog the development stage of its own technology around NDC.
At the time of the acquisition, Sabre's NDC chief, Kathy Morgan, said: "This is all about airline-controlled retailing and, combined with Sabre, there is tremendous opportunity in front of us. It’s about turbo-charging the ability to deliver retailing, distribution and fulfilment solutions regardless of PSS or GDS.”
She added that for airlines, the benefits were clear, but there were also opportunities for the travel management community and the issues that go along with implementing NDC and its impact on corporate travel policy, compliance and duty of care.
The court documents have been placed under temporary seal.