SINGAPORE, 8 October 2020: Sabre Corporation, a travel software and technology provider, announced Wednesday a new distribution agreement with Thailand’s low-cost airline THAI Smile.
Owned by the Thai Airways International the deal will open additional travel agency booking channels to ramp up the airline’s domestic tourism drive in the absence of international travellers.
This new partnership means that content from THAI Smile, which operates to more than 30 domestic and regional destinations will be available through the Sabre GDS.
Historically Thai Airways International and THAI Smile used the competing Amadeus GDS.
Connecting to Sabre’s GDS platform will provide THAI Smile with access to Sabre’s 425,000 travel agents worldwide.
“This latest partnership demonstrates our commitment to supporting all airlines, across all business models, whether low cost, full-service or operating under a hybrid model like THAI Smile, which serves a market gap between the two,” said Sabre Asia Pacific Travel Solutions Airline Sales vice president and regional general manager Rakesh Narayanan.
THAI Smile’s parent company, Thai Airways International is currently under a restructuring and rehabilitation plan supervised by Thailand’s Bankruptcy Court.
Commenting on the deal with Sabre, THAI Smile CEO Charita Leelayudth said: “It is vital that we chose the right technology partner to expand our geographical reach by ensuring content is distributed widely to our partners worldwide… we look forward to leading domestic recovery by flying domestic travellers to 12 destinations across Thailand.”
