kulula.com selects Sabre's next-generation revenue management platform to enhance its retailing capabilities

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe and GAUTENG, South Africa, Nov. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- At today's African Airlines Association Annual General Assembly in Zimbabwe, South African low cost carrier, kulula.com, announced plans to increase revenue through a new retailing approach. Using Sabre Corporation's (NASDAQ: SABR) newly-launched AirVision Revenue Optimizer platform, kulula will be able to price its services based on a customer's willingness to buy different combinations of fares and ancillary services.

As an early adopter of this new revenue management approach, kulula is able to respond faster to changing market conditions in real-time and optimize revenue streams across all its services including ancillary sales, codeshare and partnership arrangements.

"Airlines historically viewed revenue through base fares alone, which is only half the picture," said Dino Gelmetti, VP Airline Solutions, EMEA at Sabre. "With ancillary services now accounting for up to 40 percent of total revenue, and travelers expecting additional products and services from their airlines, this legacy approach is no longer effective. Airlines need to consider each passenger's total need, value and spend and provide tailored options that they are likely to purchase. Revenue Optimizer has been developed to enable airlines to become smarter retailers by addressing this need, offering their travelers the personalized experience they expect."

Sabre's AirVision Revenue Optimizer provides end-to-end control for airlines to better understand customer profiles and respond to their needs and willingness to pay, while efficiently pricing and selling seat inventory and ancillary products. This is accomplished by leveraging real-time data from the SabreSonic passenger service systems (PSS) and other Sabre commercial planning solutions. 

By supporting this new retailing approach and allowing airlines to offer products and services tailored with the right content to the right customer and at the right price, Revenue Optimizer can help drive incremental revenue.

"kulula.com is a growing airline that is committed to being considered as a thought leader in the industry," said Gabriel Moritz, Executive Manager Commercial Product at Comair. "In order to give our customers the tailored service that they want and expect, we need to be able to better understand their travel and buying patterns on an individual basis. Sabre's innovative new revenue management technology will give us a new level of knowledge that has not been possible until now, and will help us drive up incremental revenue and achieve our ambitious goals."

kulula.com is the ninth airline to sign an agreement to use this next-generation revenue management solution. In addition to implementing Revenue Optimizer to truly differentiate themselves as a customer-centric retailer in the industry, kulula is also implementing Sabre AirVision Group Optimizer to control group reservations and requests effectively and efficiently through automated business processes.

About Sabre
Sabre Corporation is the leading technology provider to the global travel industry. Sabre's software, data, mobile and distribution solutions are used by hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotel properties to manage critical operations, including passenger and guest reservations, revenue management, flight, network and crew management. Sabre also operates a leading global travel marketplace, which processes more than US$120 billion of global travel spend annually by connecting travel buyers and suppliers. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre serves customers in more than 160 countries around the world.

About kulula.com 
kulula.com is a privately-owned low-fare airline, operated by Comair Limited. This adventurous brand, which celebrates its 15-year anniversary in 2016, has since inception revolutionised air travel in South Africa by making flying much easier and more affordable for customers. kulula is IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) compliant and maintains the highest standard of safety at all times. In January 2016, for the second year running, kulula was rated as the top South African low cost carrier, in the SA Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) on the industry. In December 2015, the airline was also internationally recognised for a second consecutive year, by AirlineRatings.com, as the Best Low Cost Airline in Africa and the Middle East. In 2015, kulula received the highly coveted title of 'Best African Low-cost Airline' in the 2015 Business Traveller Africa Awards and was also voted as South Africa's top airline for business travellers in the 2015 Sunday Times Top Brands survey, and the Best Low-Cost Airline in Africa in the 2016 Skytrax World Airline Awards. kulula has completed its Boeing 737-800 (189 seats) fleet upgrade plan and now operates more than 412 flights a week across 14 domestic routes.

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