We at Sabre Decision Technologies (SDT) certainly appreciate the point that the Making the Sale article (Airline Business, October 1994) makes: that anyone not already in the business of selling services to the aviation market will 'find it very hard - perhaps impossible - to break in' and compete against Speedwing and us. While it's true that we're both formidable competitors in this business, I would like to draw attention to a few points in the article that were not strictly accurate.
First, the story gives the impression that we and other airline affiliates have only just begun to market services to other airlines, and that it has only recently become 'a strategic imperative' for us. In fact, we have been in this business since 1986 and could not have grown to a $300 million company with a client list of 200 had it not always been considered a valuable and profitable business for our parent AMR Corp.
In his article, reporter Trevor French cites Seabrook as the 'leading provider of revenue management solutions to airlines'. I dispute this. American Airlines' revenue management system, regarded as the most sophisticated in the world, was developed by Sabre Decision Technologies. Indeed, SDT is the only supplier that is developing and marketing what can be truly considered the next generation of revenue management systems - systems that will ultimately change the entire industry because they are based on true origin and destination evaluations. Part of this system is so advanced that we have a patent pending on it.
Mr Salter must get his facts right. SDT now has more than 100 airline clients - a lot more than the 29 airline clients he claims to have. He should be more cautious in bragging about his client list, as it includes bankrupt and defunct carriers such as Pan Am, Eastern and Braniff. I might also point out that Canadian Airlines, which was on the original development team of Seabrook's system Pros, recently decided to discard it and start using American's.
Unlike Seabrook, SDT only began marketing pricing and revenue management systems to airlines in 1991, and now captures a large percentage of the market. In fact, since 1991 we've managed to acquire 32 new pricing and revenue management clients, while Seabrook has gained considerably fewer.
Also, contrary to what was indicated in the article, SDT's Airprice pricing system and Airmax revenue management system were developed specifically for the international market, and all sales thus far have been to non-US carriers. If SDT approaches everything from a domestic point of view as Salter claims, how can he explain the fact that 80 per cent of our clients are outside the United States?
Furthermore, I might point out that Mr Pacelli is a little late in discovering that airline industry technology and concepts can be applied to other industries. For years we've successfully extended our expertise, knowledge and technology to other industries such as railways, car rental companies and cruise lines.
Competition within the transportation technology services market will continue to grow as more carriers realise they need increasingly sophisticated technology in order to survive. However, when airlines seek solutions to help them make better decisions that result in increased market share and profitability, they will continue to turn to the proven market leader, Sabre Decision Technologies.
Barry Smith
Senior vice president marketing applications
Sabre Decision Technologies
Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
Texas, USA.
Source: Airline Business
