Sabre said it gained market share on GDS competitors in Q2
Sabre says its GDS market share is on the rise, and following a strong second quarter, the company has raised guidance on its financial targets for the full year of 2023.
During Sabre’s Q2 earnings call on Thursday, president and CEO Kurt Ekert said the company has gained GDS market share based on Sabre Market Intelligence. Its share of air bookings in the quarter was 33.7%, up from 32.3% in the second quarter of 2022.
In the first quarter of 2023, Sabre had reported 34% of air bookings, up from 31.5% in the first quarter of 2022.
Ekert said he expects Sabre’s share to continue to grow going forward.
He highlighted recent commercial wins, including an agreement with Hyatt to transition to Sabre’s central reservation system; distribution agreements with Air Canada and other airlines; and a new long-term agreement with Internova Travel Group (No. 11 on Travel Weekly’s 2023 Power List).
NDC deals on the rise
The Air Canada agreement and other agreements include more New Distribution Capability (NDC) content in Sabre, Ekert said. In the first half of the year, Sabre said it doubled the number of airlines distributing NDC content through its GDS.
“The Sabre marketplace is a highly efficient place to buy and sell travel content, incorporating NDC offers alongside other content sources,” Ekert said. “We see NDC and GDS, or Edifact, content as complementary, with NDC expanding the breadth of product available in Sabre’s multisource content platform and enhancing our value proposition to both buyers and sellers.”
Ekert also highlighted Sabre’s ongoing technology transformation, which will ultimately result in millions of dollars of annual savings.
At the end of the second quarter, 73% of Sabre’s total compute capacity had been migrated to the Google Cloud Platform, Ekert said. That is up from about 69% in the first quarter.
In total, the tech migration will save Sabre around $100 million in the second half of this year and $200 million in 2024.
Revenue up 12%
In the second quarter, Sabre reported a 12% year-over-year increase in revenue to $738 million. The company operated at a loss of $42 million, compared to a $70 million operating loss in the second quarter of 2022. Sabre’s Q2 interest expense was $106 million. Long-term debt increased 1.7% to $4.8 billion.
Sabre is now expecting better revenue results for the full year than it previously predicted.
Previously, Sabre expected 2023 revenue to fall between $2.8 billion and $3 billion. Now, it expects full year revenue of $2.9 billion to $3 billion.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was originally forecasted to be between $300 million and $320 million. Sabre increased that target to $340 million.
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