Sabre Gears Up to Raise Overseas Market Share

Sabre Travel Network has been the market share leader in the U.S. throughout the history of the GDS industry. But not so in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where it is “a distant No. 3” to Amadeus and Travelport.

“We are the challenger,” Harald Eisenaecher, Sabre’s senior vice president for EMEA, said. “But I wouldn’t have joined this company if I did not think we could significantly change the business position in the next couple of years.”

Tech investments, expanded team
Sabre is making major investments in technology – $500 million annually, Eisenaecher said – and it is “more and more focused” on Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Sabre also is expanding its EMEA team, he said. The GDS business has 340 employees in the region, and that number will expand to 360 by the end of the year.

Eisenaecher spoke at a media event at Sabre Holding’s development center in Krakow, Poland, which serves all of the company’s business units and employs 1,300 people.

“Sabre is really investing in the region, and it will continue through the next year,” Eisenaecher said. “We are putting our wallets there, not just words.”

Sabre also has expanded its leadership team in the region, he said.

Stephane Aita has taken the reins in Western Europe, “the traditional stronghold of Amadeus,” Eisenaecher said. “The task for Stephane is to expand our market position.”

To accomplish this, he said, “we have to show that we are different, and we have to do things differently.”

‘We’re the Amundsen team’
Eisenaecher compares the competitive situation to the early 20th-century race to reach the South Pole.

Roald Amundsen had a small team but was diligently prepared, he said. Amundsen had lived with Eskimos and knew that the best and fastest way to travel by sled was with dogs. Robert F. Scott, on the other hand, used motorized sleds that broke down and ponies that inevitably died.

Scott played it safe and was inflexible. Amundsen took risks and succeeded.

“We’re the Amundsen team,” Eisenaecher said.

European challenge
Although Europe presents a “very challenging economic environment,” Sabre is holding its own, growing “above the market this year,” Eisenaecher said. “And in eastern Europe, we see some opportunities.” Sabre has seen “significant growth in Germany, and we are ahead of the market in Russia,” he said.

In addition, “online is performing really well for us,” and the market softness on the corporate side is offset by growth in the leisure market.

Big growth in Middle East
In the Middle East, Sabre is “growing tremendously,” Eisenaecher said. A $1 billion technology agreement with Etihad Airways, signed in December, is likely to lead to “further opportunities,” he said.

Companies in the Middle East look at business differently, he said. “The safest way to get fired at Emirates is to talk about cost savings,” he said. “The second is to ask what I can’t do for my customer.”

Eyes on Africa
The third section of the EMEA region, Africa, is growing in importance, and any doubters should look at the investments that the Chinese are making there, Eisenaecher said.

Sabre Holdings has a joint venture with Emirates and its travel distribution arm, EmQuest, for distribution services in several African nations. Nigeria and Ghana have their own distributors, but “other markets are set for a Sabre entry,” Eisenaecher said.