Skift Take
The way that travel is bought and sold is changing quickly, and older companies have to keep up to secure their future.
Sabre has a long way to go to reach the power it had before the pandemic. That was clear from its 2023 annual report, showing its latest financials and other details about the business, including layoffs completed last year and plans for tech investment.
Financials: Still Far Below 2019Sabre ended 2023 with $2.9 billion in revenue, still roughly $1 billion less than in 2019.
Sabre’s primary business is providing data about flights to travel sellers, who then use that information to sell flights to consumers. When a travel agent uses that system to book a flight, Sabre charges the relevant airline a fee.
There were 302.7 million air bookings made with the Sabre system in 2023, a drop of nearly 40% from 2019. Though that number has been improving since the pandemic, Sabre said in its annual report that air distribution volume has leveled off.
These drops come from a number of reason