Sabre’s corporate travel bookings faltered in the fourth quarter, but executives on Wednesday said trends have looked more promising throughout the first weeks of 2023.<\/p>\n
Fourth-quarter bookings through Sabre’s GDS were 59% of Q4 in 2019, Sabre president Kurt Ekert said in an earnings call on Wednesday. That equated to about 65% revenue recovery compared to 2019, due to higher revenue per booking, he said.<\/p>\n
During the previous quarter, Sabre executives projected air booking recovery for the fourth quarter would be in the low 60% range. Weaker-than-expected bookings in November and December were largely responsible for the shortfall, CFO Mike Randolfi said. <\/p>\n
Factors including “airline and airport operational constraints, airline capacity limits and regional travel restrictions” stalled recovery during the quarter, particularly with corporate travel and travel in the Asia-Pacific region, chairman and CEO Sean Menke said.<\/p>\n
The executives called the setback temporary, saying both corporate travel and Asia-Pacific travel have begun to improve this year.<\/p>\n
“To put numbers behind it, year-to-date recovery in our travel management company business is about 9 percentage points above December levels, and it has strengthened on a sequential weekly basis,” Ekert said. “We’re now realizing a return of group bookings coming out of Asia that are reminiscent of pre-Covid travel patterns.”<\/p>\n
GDS bookings recovery through Feb. 9 has reached 62% of 2019 levels for that period, Ekert said. Randolfi said Sabre expects “a steady incremental recovery from where we are.”<\/p>\n
Sabre’s distribution revenue during the quarter totaled $417 million, up 46% year over year, and global bookings net of cancellations were up 32% year over year to 76 million. Sabre’s average booking fee for the quarter was $5.49, indicating incremental improvement throughout each quarter of 2022, according to the company.<\/p>\n
Sabre reported a net loss of $165 million for the quarter, compared with a net loss of $192 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. For the full year, Sabre’s net loss was $457 million, compared with a $950 million net loss in 2021.<\/p>\n