Biman Bangladesh Airlines adopts comprehensive suite of Sabre solutions to drive revenue growth through digital transformation

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Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR) has announced a strategic partnership with Biman Bangladesh Airlines to enhance the airline's digital transformation and improve customer experience. Under this agreement, Biman will implement the SabreSonic Passenger Service System (PSS) and other Sabre solutions, renewing its global distribution agreement. This collaboration aims to increase revenue, improve operational efficiencies, and extend Biman's market reach. The deal is set to onboard more than 40 million passengers onto the Sabre platform, highlighting its significance in the travel industry's recovery.

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New partnership with Biman Bangladesh Airlines enhances digital transformation.
Implementation of SabreSonic PSS expected to streamline operations and increase revenue.
The agreement is anticipated to onboard over 40 million additional passengers.

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09/09/2021 - 09:41 AM

SOUTHLAKE, Texas, Sept. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), a leading software and technology provider that powers the global travel industry, today announced a new strategic partnership with Bangladesh's national flag carrier, Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Biman).

Under the new agreement, Biman will adopt the SabreSonic Passenger Service System (PSS) to power digital transformation, drive revenue growth and improve the passenger experience. Biman has also selected a further set of Sabre solutions as well as renewing its global distribution agreement with Sabre to help meet the demands of modern-day travelers, ensure availability across all points of sale, maximize customer acquisition, leverage its loyalty program and stimulate demand as industry recovery gains momentum.

"We're thrilled to embark on a new relationship with Sabre during this critical time for the travel industry," said Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal, Managing Director and CEO, Biman. "It is more important now than ever that we have agile and advanced solutions to empower us to improve operational efficiencies, boost revenue as we move into recovery, and to create a differentiated brand experience in the competitive Bangladeshi market and beyond. We look forward to flying our nation's bi-colored flag domestically, regionally and internationally as borders re-open, with support from Sabre's robust technology."

SabreSonic PSS is designed to automate and streamline sales and reservations processes, helping airlines maximize revenue opportunities, save costs, enhance inventory revenue optimization, extend their reach through partnerships and maximize efficiency and effectiveness of airline offerings. This latest deal further expands Sabre's global PSS footprint, with the company having announced SabreSonic PSS wins, during its most recent earnings call, expected to bring more than 40 million incremental passengers boarded to the platform.

As well as Sabre's comprehensive, passenger-centric PSS, Dhaka-headquartered Biman will also be utilizing Sabre's:

Global Distribution System (GDS) in a long-term renewal agreement to distribute its fares and offers to hundreds of thousands of travel agents worldwide;
Departure Control Suite to help Biman deliver a seamless and efficient airport experience with a robust solution for passenger reaccommodation. The suite will help in enabling a true walk-through experience at the airport through automation and self-service capabilities;
SabreSonic Digital Experience a highly-extensible user interface framework that provides access to robust, end-to-end retail capabilities, enabling shop and book, ancillaries, payments and fulfilment all through self-service capabilities, helping the airline to develop a fully-responsive and configurable eCommerce website and mobile app in-line with Biman's digital transformation;
SabreSonic CSS Digital Workspace with flexible mobile-ready workflows designed to improve agent productivity and enable them to deliver personalized customer service at the airport and call center;
SabreSonic Direct Connect Platform to deliver a suite of shopping, booking, and fulfilment web services as well as a GUI to their travel agency or third-party partners, helping the airline deliver omni-channel travel experiences through capabilities that are built once, deployed many times;
Sabre Application Programming Interface (API) Hub which provides a portfolio of comprehensive APIs that support a broad range of functionality, enabling speed-to-market and control over distribution across all channels;
Data and Analytics/ Business Intelligence which delivers a layer of connected enterprise data by providing Biman with meaningful data and actionable intelligence for the entire airline enterprise; and
Loyalty Management System to enable Biman to recognize, track and reward their most loyal customers across all touchpoints during their journeys, providing an improved customer experience and increased customer loyalty that results in repeat revenue and increased share of wallet.

"We know how difficult the current climate continues to be for the airline, and wider travel industry," said Rakesh Narayanan, Vice President, Regional General Manager, Asia Pacific, Travel Solutions, Airline Sales. "However, we also know that our travel partners are seizing this opportunity to take a fresh look at their technology strategy to ensure they are in a position of competitive strength going forward. We're delighted to be partnering Biman on their digital transformation journey with a comprehensive suite of Sabre retailing, distribution and fulfilment solutions."

Mohammed Salahuddin-General Manager-Marketing, Biman Bangladesh Airlines added: "We are delighted to work together with leading global airline solution provider, Sabre, that allow Biman to access all the services we require through one single platform, supporting us on our digital transformation journey and enabling Biman to be more competitive in the local, regional and international airline markets."

About Sabre Corporation  
Sabre Corporation is a leading software and technology company that powers the global travel industry, serving a wide range of travel companies including airlines, hoteliers, travel agencies and other suppliers. The company provides retailing, distribution and fulfilment solutions that help its customers operate more efficiently, drive revenue and offer personalized traveller experiences. Through its leading travel marketplace, Sabre connects travel suppliers with buyers from around the globe. Sabre's technology platform manages more than $260B worth of global travel spend annually. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre serves customers in more than 160 countries around the world. For more information visit www.sabre.com.  

About Biman Bangladesh Airlines
Biman Bangladesh Airlines, commonly known as 'Biman', is the national flag carrier airline of Bangladesh. The airline, head quartered at Dhaka, was established on 04 January 1972. On 23 July 2007, it was transformed from a Corporation into a 100% state-owned Public Limited Company of Bangladesh. The airline provides air transportation services for passenger and cargo to 7 domestic and 19 international destinations, from its major hub at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka. The airline also operates flights from its secondary hubs at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram and at Osmani International Airport in Sylhet.

Biman's present Domestic destinations are Barishal, Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Jashore, Rajshahi, Saidpur & Sylhet and International destinations are Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Dammam, Delhi, Doha, Dubai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London, Manchester, Medina, Muscat, Riyadh & Singapore.

Biman has a fleet of 21 state-of-the-art aircraft, which includes 04 (four) 777-300ER, 02 (two) 787-9, 04 (four) 787-8, 06 (six) 737-800 and 05 (five) Dash8-400 aircraft. Biman is the sole ground handling service provider for the foreign airlines operating flights to and from Bangladesh. The airline also owns some subsidiary businesses like Flight Catering, Aircraft Maintenance/Technical Services, Aviation related Training, Poultry, Printing Press, Vehicle Maintenance, etc.

In the last decade, Biman's on-ground and in-flight services have been improved to a great extent and reached to the level of the international standards. Biman is an IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) certified airlines since 2008.

The airline is planning for gradual expansion of its network and fleet in the coming years, and expecting to resume its services to Chennai, Mumbai, Tokyo & Toronto and commence operation to Colombo, Male' & New York in near future.

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