Sabre Completes Sale of AirCentre to CAE

( 2 Mar 2022, 11:27 +07)  Sabre has completed the sale of its AirCentre airline operations portfolio to CAE.

The transaction, valued at US$392.5 million, includes the Sabre AirCentre product portfolio, related technology and intellectual property as well as the transfer of AirCentre’s team members from Sabre to CAE.

The divestiture of AirCentre supports Sabre’s efforts to streamline its product portfolio in order to focus more intently on its technology transformation as well as plans to identify and maximize new revenue opportunities for the company and its customers.

“Today’s announcement marks an important milestone for Sabre as we take bold steps toward achieving our vision to be held as the premier global technology platform in travel,” said Sean Menke, Sabre CEO. “With the close of this transaction, Sabre is better positioned for the future and ready to deliver on the incremental revenue and growth opportunities that are before us.”

Thai Smile cabin crew at BKK. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

Sabre’s Airline Operations business employs almost 500 people located in 12 countries, including 6 hubs (Dallas, Bangalore, Vienna, Krakow, Montevideo, and Shanghai). It delivers software solutions to more than 150 airline customers, with a portfolio that includes:

Crew Management: Enables enhanced long-term planning, innovative tracking and management, and disruption management decision support to help carriers manage crew schedules and keep crew members informed with real-time data.

Flight Management: Allows airlines to manage the core functions of flight operations to deliver efficient flight plans and support increased productivity.

Movement Manager: Helps airlines to gain a competitive advantage by optimizing the use of aircraft and operational plans to help meet commercial objectives such as protecting schedules, reducing disruptions and minimizing passenger impact.

Airport Management: Manages airport operations such as planning, gate assignments and staffing to support increased operational efficiency, help optimize costs and improve the customer experience.

In-Flight: Spans all aspects of service planning, meal ordering, forecasting, operations, materials management, financial controls and reporting.

“We are very pleased to welcome Sabre’s Airline Operations customers and employees to CAE,” said Marc Parent, CAE’s President and CEO. “This acquisition, in addition to our ongoing technological transformation and our previous acquisitions of Merlot and RB Group, allows us to expand our reach into digitally-enabled flight and crew management and optimization services and create additional value for our customers.”

CAE has been carrying out a growth strategy with the intent to emerge from the COVID19 pandemic as a larger, more resilient, and more profitable company than ever before. The acquisition, the ninth accretive acquisition for CAE since the COVID19 pandemic began, further expands CAE’s reach across its broad customer base beyond simulators and pilot training and establish the company as a technology leader in the growing marketplace for industry-leading, digitally enabled flight and crew operations solutions.

CAE acquired Merlot and RB Group in December 2020 and April 2021, respectively.