Travel agencies across Saudi Arabia are benefiting from enhanced global partnership between Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Sabre Travel Network.
An extended, upgraded and enhanced distribution agreement with Sabre Travel Network enables travel consultants in Kingdom to provide unrivalled level and range of services to customers in PIA's most important global market.
The advantages of PIA's newly extended five-year distribution agreement with Sabre includes upgrade of airline's participation in Sabre global distribution system (GDS) to Direct Connect Availability (DCA), highest level of connectivity.
As electronic marketplace for buying, selling and travel-related services, PIA connected travel consultants in Saudi Arabia are now using Sabre Travel Network to gain enhanced access to real time information about PIA's seat availability and fare packages.
Distribution agreement is also bundled with operational and decision-support tools from Sabre Travel Network's sister business, Sabre Airline Solutions. The significance of partnership and importance of Saudi Arabian market to PIA was highlighted at Sabre Travel Network-hosted event in Jeddah, attended by a delegation of senior PIA officials and travel agents from the Kingdom.
"Sabre Holdings, as a whole, successfully transcended traditional relations between GDS operator and airline, which was based solely on distribution," said PIA Sales Senior Vice President S Kamran Hasan. "While traditional GDSs remain travel industry's most effective, profitable channel of sales, distribution, we intend to grow our business through use of multiple distribution channels. Sabre, with its unrivalled presence in every channel of sales, distribution, remains strong distribution partner for us."
"PIA's approach to its distribution, operational technology is forward thinking," said Sabre Travel Network Middle East CEO Daniel Naoumovitch. "It's significant airline, important global partner for Sabre Holdings business which can deliver PIA distribution, operational value it requires, particularly for business in its most important market Saudi Arabia."