Sabre Corporation is seeking to redefine its identity, moving away from its legacy reputation as a global distribution system (GDS) and repositioning itself as an AI-native travel technology platform.
During its fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Kurt Ekert said Sabre is undergoing a “fundamental transition,” arguing that artificial intelligence will not bypass the company’s infrastructure but instead rely on it. He maintained that AI systems require Sabre’s vast datasets, integrated supplier content and complex transactional logic to shop, price, book and service travel at scale.
Sabre executives emphasized the company’s scale advantage, citing more than 50 petabytes of travel data, 14,000 transactions processed per second and 11 billion shopping signals per month. According to Sabre, this proprietary logic and servicing framework – built across 200-plus countries and thousands of supplier agreements – cannot simply be replicated or scraped by AI engines.
The company is doubling down on agentic AI, highlighting its recently launched agentic APIs and a Model Context Protocol server designed for large language model integration. Sabre has also formed partnerships with companies including PayPal, BizTrip AI, MindTrip and Virgin Australia to expand AI-driven travel capabilities.
Leadership changes reflect the strategic shift. Garry Wiseman was promoted to president of product and engineering to oversee AI innovation, while additional executive roles were realigned to support the company’s transformation.
Financially, Sabre reported fourth-quarter revenue of $667 million, up 3% year over year. Full-year revenue reached $2.8 billion, with operating income rising to $295 million. Wall Street reacted positively, with shares climbing sharply following the earnings call.
Sabre’s pivot signals a broader evolution in travel distribution, as AI increasingly shapes how travelers search, compare and book trips across digital channels.