Corporate travel bookings for Sabre were up 4.5%-5% in the first quarter, according to CEO Kurt Ekert, speaking on an earnings call. That helped drive a 5% year-over-year quarterly revenue increase to $783 million, according to executives.
Also as a result of corporate business, there was a 7% increase in the average booking fee during the quarter. And that growth, said Ekert, is continuing “at relatively the same pace.”
The company reported a net loss of $71.5 million in the quarter, compared with a $104.3 million loss in the first quarter last year. That loss narrowed, according to the company, as operating income for the quarter improved to $98 million from “essentially break-even” the previous year, an improvement attributed in part to last year’s cost-reduction plan and lower technology costs.
Total bookings for Sabre’s Travel Solutions were up 2% year over year, with air up 1%, while lodging, ground and sea bookings were up 8%.
According to Ekert, NDC bookings account for only about 1% of all global distribution system bookings, but he said that should increase in 2024. “We are very well positioned in terms of content connectivity and all the business logic and functionality we built for buyers,” Ekert said.
“There is work that buyers, such as [travel management companies], need to do from a downstream perspective on their end,” said Ekert, adding, “There is certainly a big focus on that from all those buyers, so we think that number [of NDC bookings] will grow substantially, albeit off a low base.”
