Sabre links Thai Lion to travel agencies
Thai Lion Air is the latest low-cost airline to sign up with Sabre to tap bookings from 100,000 Sabre-connected travel agents in the Asia-Pacific region.
This is the first strategic distribution agreement that the Lion Group subsidiary has signed, choosing Sabre Travel Network Asia-Pacific to drive growth from within the B2B channel, a Sabre announcement stated.
In the past, the airline ‘s top officials claimed they had no interest in travel agency bookings, believing they could sustain an expanding network of destination in Thailand with direct online sales in the domestic travel market.
However, Thailand attracted 28.6 million visitors in 2015 and a solid proportion used both online and traditional travel agencies to book connecting flights to major tourist destinations in Thailand.
The travel agency channel will help the airline to top up sales year-round to compensate for the dramatic fluctuation in Thailand’s domestic travel demand. Usually the fares travel agencies tap are slightly more expensive, but are more flexible as well as allowing connecting flights on a single PNR or booking record.
Thai Lion Air currently serves 10 routes from its base at Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok. It started its first international flight to neighbouring Singapore earlier this month.
In a policy U-turn on the value of travel agencies, Thai Lion Air chief executive officer, Aswin Yangkirativorn, said: “Bookings from Sabre-connected travel agents will help us to increase our frequency, while channelling demand for the new routes we have planned.”
Travel agents will sell free seat selection that Thai Lion Air offers passengers, together with an additional 15kgs of baggage allowance for designated sports equipment.
Thai Lion Air founded in 2013 offers nine domestic and one International flight. It operates 13 Boeing 737s
Share story
0 nhận xét: