Air New Zealand Strengthens its Customer Service Offering with Sabre Airline Solutions’ Rebooking Tool; New Zealand’s Leading Airline Becomes the World’s First Carrier to Implement Sabre Reaccommodation Manager

SOUTHLAKE, TX -- Feb. 7, 2005 -- Sabre Airline Solutions today announced Air New Zealand has become the first carrier in the world to utilize Sabre Reaccommodation Manager to continue its drive to provide superior customer service.


Air New Zealand selected Reaccommodation Manager, part of the Sabre AirOps Suite, for its ability to simplify and automate the process of rebooking passengers who have been affected by flight cancellations or delays. The optimization-based process will assign Air New Zealand’s premium customers with the best alternate itineraries to help minimize disruptions.

"We strive to offer world-class customer service and are constantly looking at ways to ensure our passengers receive the very best experience every time they book and fly with us" said Rod Butchers, manager, Operations Delivery, Air New Zealand. "By adding Reaccommodation Manager to our existing portfolio of Sabre Airline Solutions technologies, we aim to deliver a superior level of service by reducing the problems associated with flight disruptions"

"This product is a sophisticated system designed to work closely with our Integrated Operations Centre helping to improve our day-to-day flight management" Butchers added. "For example, passenger rebooking can be taken into consideration when we decide if a flight needs to be cancelled, delayed or diverted to alternate destinations"

To achieve the rebooking process, Reaccommodation Manager first receives disrupted flight information, then evaluates each passenger according to user-defined criteria such as frequent flyer status, fare paid and class of travel, and prioritizes the passenger list based on calculated values to create alternative itineraries. Next, passengers are notified and receive a rebooking via an improved, automated, alerting process.

Cameron Curtis, vice president, Asia/Pacific for Sabre Airline Solutions said, "In such a highly competitive environment, particularly in the South Pacific, airlines are constantly trying to distinguish themselves, and customer service is a key differentiator for Air New Zealand. As the launch customer to implement Reaccommodation Manager, Air New Zealand is leading the way to improving customer satisfaction"

"As part of the AirOps suite, Reaccommodation Manager strengthens our industry leading flight operations products, providing a powerful set of tools to help our customers manage their day-to-day operations and bring a higher level of customer service" said Curtis.

Introducing Reaccommodation Manager will complement Air New Zealand’s existing product portfolio from Sabre Airline Solutions. The airline already utilizes Sabre Movement Manager, Sabre Dispatch Manager, Sabre Decision Manager as well as systems from the Sabre AirCrews Crew Management Suite and the Sabre AirFlite Planning and Scheduling Suite.

About Sabre Airline Solutions

Sabre Airline Solutions, a Sabre Holdings (NYSE: TSG) company, is the world’s largest provider of software products; reservations, departure control systems and other passenger management systems; and consulting services that help airlines simplify operations and lower costs. Sabre Airline Solutions’ proven leadership is demonstrated by the growing number of airlines that leverage the technology and services: More than 200 airlines worldwide use Sabre Airline Solutions’ broad portfolio of smart solutions for decision-support tools to increase revenues and improve operations. More than 500 contracts worldwide were signed in 2004 for Sabre Airline Solutions leading technology solutions. More than 100 airlines worldwide rely on Sabre Airline Solutions for passenger management solutions, with eight new carriers choosing SabreSonic, the first new generation reservations system offered in the market, in 2004 and six carrier renewals. In addition, more than 100 clients worldwide have turned to the Sabre Airline Solutions consulting group for strategic, commercial and operational consulting.

Sabre Airline Solutions, the Sabre Airline Solutions logo, Sabre AirOps, AirCrews and AirFlite are trademarks and/or service marks of an affiliate of Sabre Holdings Corp. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names are the property of their respective owners. (C) 2004 Sabre Inc. All rights reserved.

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Kathryn Hayden

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Sabre Airline Solutions

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