DURING A QUARTER in which Sabre chairman and CEO
William Hannigan said his company was "hammered by world events,"
Sabre's year-over-year earnings fell 26% from $87.4 million to
$64.9 million. Year-over year quarterly bookings -- which included
agency, Travelocity and GetThere transactions -- decreased 13%, from
$108.3 million to $93.9 million. Revenue from Sabre's travel agency
business dropped 10% from $434.1 million to $388.8 million, while
revenue from Travelocity grew 9% from $73.7 million to $80 million.
SABRE also received a one-time boost in revenue
-- $37 million -- from Cendant. The sum was part of the agreement
involving the transition of CheapTickets, Cendant's consumer travel Web
site, and other Cendant-affiliated agency business from Sabre to
Galileo, the GDS owned by Cendant.
ADD ANOTHER CARRIER, Continental, to Galileo's
Momentum program. This means the airline is publishing all its
fares, including those on-the-cheap specials that we used to call
Web fares, in Galileo's GDS for travel agency subscribers that have
also joined the program. United and US Airways are the other
airline participants in Momentum, a three-year program. Galileo
said airlines can expect to save 20% on GDS booking fees for
transactions processed by Momentum agencies. Galileo kicks in 10%
of the savings, while agencies contribute the other 10% by
foregoing 50 cents of GDS revenue per segment. Galileo said the
Momentum program covers about 25% of Galileo's subscriber base,
which includes Cendant's travel agency operations, Rosenbluth
International and Casto Travel.
ORBITZ FOR BUSINESS is now accepting the
Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP) credit card as a form of payment.
UATP, like Orbitz, is owned by the airlines. A card-issuing
airline, say American, doesn't pay a merchant fee when a cardholder
buys a ticket on American, and American is paid a merchant fee when
a cardholder buys a ticket on another airline that accepts UATP as
a payment method. Corporations may only buy airline and train
tickets with the UATP card.
PRICELINE.COM says now is a good time for
travelers to name their own price on a rental car. Through May 5,
Priceline
says consumers can save up to 30% over published retail prices
because car rentals tend to slow down during the "pre-summer
shoulder period," said Paul Hennessy, vice president of Priceline's
rental car service. The limited-time promotion applies to all
compact, mid-size and full-size rental car bookings completed by
June 1.