The interesting times continue at Sabre, with the news that Hugh Jones is stepping down as president of its airline IT unit.
Jones has some thirty years' experience in the travel sector. Before taking over Sabre Airline Solutions in 2011, he ran Travelocity Global as CEO for a couple of years, while other Sabre roles include stints as COO for its Travel Network in the US.
The official announcement, which is all that Sabre is saying on the matter, reveals Jones will leave this August and thanks him for "nearly doubling the size of the Airline Solutions business during [his] time".
However, Sabre's recently appointed CEO Sean Menke has been relatively transparent about some of the areas of concern on his Airlines Solutions "to do" list.
Introducing himself to analysts on the 2016 Q4/FY earnings call, he noted that some of the "historical complexity" of its airline customers had "crept into our own product sets to some degree" and that "a critical review of its [Airline Solutions] portfolio" was under way.
Part of this review will be to identify and focus on the products that deliver the highest returns to Sabre and to get these products to market quicker.
Another component to Menke's shake-up is his belief that having a passenger reservation system and a distribution network is a significant competitive advantage over some of its competitors, and that these two parts of the business need to work more closely.
"Our position as both a GDS and as a provider of PSS and retailing technologies enables us to work with our customers to optimize distribution in ways other competitors cannot," he said.
Chances are the timing of Jones' departure is co-incidental rather than conspiratorial. Nonetheless, the type of person who is brought in to replace him will be a sign of how Sabre Airline Solutions will progress under Menke.
Related reading from Tnooz:Sabre’s CFO bangs the drum for the joined-up PSS/GDS (March17)