Travel technology giant Sabre has seen corporate travel rebound so far this year after suffering a “set back” in the recovery during the final weeks of 2022.
Sabre’s CEO Sean Menke said that last year had been “an important step forward” in the global travel industry’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, although demand for travel was impacted by several factors.
“In 2022, the demand recovery was uneven, driven by a resurgence in Covid-19 cases at the beginning of the year, airline and airport operational constraints, airline capacity limits and regional travel restrictions,” added Menke as Sabre unveiled its financial results for 2022.
“We believe some of these factors negatively impacted the recovery in the latter half of the fourth quarter of 2022. We believe those negative impacts were temporary, and we have seen volumes improve in the new year.”
Menke said that Sabre’s sales through TMCs so far this year were “about 9 percentage points” above December levels and had “strengthened” week by week into early February.
Sabre achieved revenue of $2.5 billion in 2022, up by 50 per cent compared with the previous year, which was driven by an increase in global air, hotel and other travel bookings
These improved sales helped Sabre cut its net loss to $457 million for the year, which was a 52 per cent improvement on 2021’s deficit of $950 million.
Menke said there were “several key trends” that should help to boost air traffic growth and corporate travel this year.
“Airline capacity is expected to rise as aircraft deliveries accelerate and operational constraints that have curtailed growth abate,” he explained.
“We believe this additional capacity is likely to unlock robust consumer and corporate demand, evident from elevated air fares that have not limited industry load factor improvement.”