Transition
readiness

Many airlines today are preparing themselves for the transition journey to modern retailing. During this phase, airlines should focus their efforts on:

• Identifying their end vision and building their business case for change
• Defining the strategy that will achieve their objectives
• Securing buy-in at the highest levels of their organization, and alignment down through the levels of the organization
• Engaging with their technology partner early and often to identify an optimal transition path based on the airline’s unique needs

McKinsey and IATA believe there’s a +$7.00 per passenger opportunity by 2023. Sabre’s analysis suggests that the value realized from this transition could be as much as 5% of airline revenue. See how that breaks down across the phases.

Offer and order
foundations

Phase 01 lays the foundations for offers and orders. It creates the ‘bridge’ between the existing PSS world and the offer and order world. It’s the first point at which traditional constructs meet the future and co-exist.

During this phase of transition, an airline can choose which customer touchpoints – such as internet booking engine or NDC channel – will transition towards creating orders and which touchpoints – such as airports or GDS – will continue generating PNRs in the PSS.

Airlines can drive incremental value in this phase with smarter offer management using solutions like Sabre’s Retail Intelligence product suite.

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Hybrid
world

This breakthrough phase of transition will see standalone orders exist alongside orders + PNRs.

In Phase 02, we envision orders becoming the document of record within the airline’s technology ecosystem. Sabre will activate a translation layer so the airline can communicate with partner systems that are not yet order-based. The two-way translation layer works by translating legacy (EDIFACT) messages into updates to the order and vice versa.

This solution ensures airlines can achieve independence in their journey towards offers and orders, while still collaborating with any partners still operating on traditional systems. It fully insulates and protects the transitioning airline against any uneven progress towards 100% offers and orders across the industry.

New
heights

At this stage, the airline no longer requires the PSS or the translation layer. Both can be decommissioned, unlocking cost savings and enhanced efficiency.

The shift to offer and order retailing and fulfilment is complete and standalone orders are created for all scenarios. The airline IT stack is fully modularized and API compliant with industry standards. The full benefits of a modern IT infrastructure can be realized with all industry participants interconnecting via offer and order constructs.