Sabre is in the midst of a “fundamental transition,” moving the company from a GDS-focused company to an AI-native technology leader, according to Kurt Ekert, CEO, speaking on a fourth quarter earnings call. He said he believed corporate travel agencies and brick-and-mortar agencies will be less impacted by the emergence of agentic AI.
“More impacted would be a supplier direct,” said Ekert, “where you have non-loyal travelers; metasearch, which is not an end-to-end experience because you’re being linked off; and then third would be OTAs,” he said.
Commenting on whether AI would enable customers to bypass Sabre, Ekert said, “AI needs what Sabre has already built: vast, constantly evolving data, integrated content and complex logic purpose built to solve travel’s uniquely challenging workflows.” He continued: “We provide the foundational transaction layer AI uses to shop, price, book and service travel. We expect the shift makes us more essential, not less.”
Ekert announced several leadership changes, effective Feb. 19, to enhance its AI goals. Garry Wiseman, formerly chief product and technology officer, was promoted to president of product and engineering, overseeing innovation and agentic AI. Shawn Williams, previously chief administrative officer, was named COO. Andy Finkelstein, previously senior vice president of global agency sales and delivery, was named chief commercial officer of travel marketplace. Dave Medrano, previously senior vice president of global human resources, was named chief people officer.
As for corporate travel, after a largely “negative” 2025, bookings from that segment improved at the end of the year, with that trend continuing into 2026, according to Ekert. “The strength we saw in December has continued and is broad-based across all regions, and also within corporate travel,” he said.
NDC bookings made up 4% of Sabre’s total air distribution bookings in 2025, and Ekert said that will accelerate this year. Sabre currently has 42 carriers with live NDC integrations, with 15 carriers added in 2025.
For the full year of 2025, Sabre reported a net income of $524.6 million, compared with a $278.8 million loss in 2024. The net income was driven primarily by Sabre’s sale of its Hospitality Solutions unit, according to the company.
