How airline network planning is adapting for travel industry recovery

Sabre Corporation, a leading software and technology provider that powers the global travel industry, has released an insightful new whitepaper outlining the pioneering new methodologies it is creating to enable its airline partners to create more holistic, accurate network plans as their focus shifts from short-term planning to long-term recovery.

Sabre’s latest whitepaper, The Art & Science of Airline Network Planning to Ramp up for Recovery, has been released as the airline industry turns its attention to longer term planning once more, and away from the short-term operational focus that was necessary earlier in the pandemic.

“From an aviation perspective, the latter half of 2021 is the time to change our outlook from crisis mode with a focus only on the immediate term to again taking on a more strategic view; analyzing market and fleet adjustments for the seasons and years to come,” said Cem Tanyel, chief services officer in Sabre Travel Solutions.

“However, shifting from a purely short-term scheduling focus back to a full timeline network planning view will not be easy in the current environment. In addition to difficulties caused by reduced passenger numbers and revenue, and resulting reductions in crew for some airlines, there are additional challenges given that the data airline managers could previously rely on to estimate future demand beyond the next few weeks is no longer reliable,” Tanyel added.

That is why Sabre is developing the robust new airline network planning methodologies described in its new whitepaper. These new methods can leverage its GDS shopping data in conjunction with historical Global Demand Data and Industry capacity data to predict demand in a manner that works effectively even when prior year results become less representative.

Using these new approaches, Sabre has developed alternative 2021 schedules and demand estimations that are more reflective of what is likely to occur.