Sabre and Hawaiian Airlines Sign NDC Agreement

Sabre on Thursday announced that it had signed a new multi-year agreement with Hawaiian Airlines that will keep Hawaiian’s EDIFACT and NDC content on the platform.

Sabre said on Thursday that it and Hawaiian will work closely to integrate HA Connect NDC content in the Sabre GDS, making it available to users by the end of the year. Aside from that, the agreement also marks the end of the lawsuit that Sabre brought against Hawaiian Airlines over its GDS surcharge in 2022, though the two did not provide details of that suit’s settlement.

“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Sabre to expand our long-standing distribution partnership to not only EDIFACT but also HA Connect™ content once the technical connectivity has been implemented,” said Brent Overbeek, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, Hawaiian Airlines.

“Hawaiian Airlines is continuously expanding the distribution options and content available to the travel agency community, and NDC is one of the key enablers of that. This agreement will enable Sabre’s travel agents across the globe to access our rich HA Connect NDC content.”

Hawaiian Airlines is currently in the midst of being acquired by Alaska Airlines for $1.9 billion. That deal, announced in December 2023, creates a combined airline that serves nearly 55 million passengers annually, keeping the new Alaska the fifth largest North American airline by passengers carried behind Delta, American, Southwest, and United.

However, that deal is still subject to regulatory approvals, which have been called into question after a federal judge struck down JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit Airlines this week citing anti-trust concerns.