Sabre's CFO Rick Simonson has outlined the importance of using insights from its passenger reservation and airline IT products to help airlines sell via the direct and indirect channel.
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley's Technology, Media and Telecoms Conference in San Francisco this week, he was asked about NDC, with the moderator referencing a recent certification announcement by one its peers (that'll be Travelport).
Simonson dismissed NDC as "just one standard" describing it as "narrow" before explaining:
"It doesn't define what we call the evolution of distribution. There is evolution in direct - the airline dotcom - in indirect - the GDS - and into your passenger reservation system. That's the totality of distribution."
This new Sabre party line around the role of the passenger reservation system in distribution was referenced by its new CEO Sean Menke on his debut earnings call last month. Menke said at that time:
“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.”
And Simonson told the bankers that "Sean is very focused on this" although he did name check Amadeus as a competitor. "There are only really two scale players in the market and we like that," he said.
"Commercial and technical models need to evolve in the indirect channel and then you operationalise those in the reservation system," he continued.
He was a bit clearer explaining the benefits of running the reservation systems and having an airline IT business.
"When the passenger hits the kiosk, the check-in desk, gets on the plane - whether he bought direct or indirect - we can track that. We know what they are doing, what they are buying and we can share this insight into the whole trip with the airlines and the agency."
The above quote was in response to a question about "knowing the passenger" and Simonson was clear that having access to the reservation system data was necessary to deliver what airlines need.
"The need for airlines to have a modern reservation system is even more acute in terms of how they want to merchandise and retail , and most of that happens in the reservation system and we can deliver on that...There are only really two scale players in the market and we like that."
Related reading from Tnooz:Sabre’s new CEO to focus tech investment on returns and speed to market (Feb17)
Navitaire deal helps take Amadeus to record annual revenue in 2016 (Feb17)
Travelport says headwinds behind it as it reports best results in five years