Virgin switches from Navitaire to Sabre

Domestic airline, Virgin Australia, will be switching from its existing Navitaire reservation system to Sabre.

Virgin Australia corporate communications manager, Colin Lippiatt, said the move forms part of the airline’s strategy to enhance the systems and processes across its entire business.

“There are many practices across our business which have been effective in our success to date as a low-cost domestic carrier,” he said.

"However, [Navitaire] is no longer appropriate for our new business model.”

The adoption of the Sabre system is designed to enable the airline to better support integrated ticketing with its Alliance partners, remove inefficient workarounds and provide an elevated level of recognition for its guests.

“The integration of business practices, supported by integrated technology solutions, will provide a consistent foundation for our new ticketed operating model across the Virgin Australia Group,” Lippiatt said.

The timing of the move is attributed to the airline’s current "game change program", where it is attempting to evolve its business model in 2012 to become the "airline of choice" for both corporate and leisure travellers.

Some of the benefits Virgin Australia is expecting from the switch is eTicketing for its guests, which the airline hopes will make it easier to both book and travel across its global network.

“For our Alliance Partners, eTicketing marks the next evolution of Virgin Australia as a unified, network carrier with a single designator, one set of processes for international and national, and greater IATA compliance,” Lippiatt said.

The airline also hopes that the eTicketing in Sabre will bring it in-line with airline industry standard processes, streamline processes, establish one process across international and domestic, and enable staff to better service its guests through "more complex itineraries" and meeting the "variable needs" of both business and leisure markets.

In the past, Virgin Australia (then called Virgin Blue) experienced issues with the Navitaire system after a hardware failure crippled its reservations systems in 2010.

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