Kurt Ekert joined Sabre as president in January 2022 and became CEO in April 2023. Prior to that he had been president and CEO of CWT, chief commercial officer at Travelport and held executive positions at GTA, Orbitz Worldwide, Cendant and Continental Airlines.
During the company’s recent call to report its Q1 2024 financial figures, Ekert said the results “exceeded expectations,” with quarterly revenue of $783 million.
A year into taking up the CEO role at Sabre, the metrics are going in the right direction for Kurt Ekert. Revenue is up alongside EBITDA in the first quarter, and all the business units are reporting gains.
But more than that, as Sabre continues to execute on its growth strategy Ekert sees significant opportunity for further growth across hotel and air distribution as well as Sabre's payments and IT solutions business units.
In a broad ranging interview with PhocusWire, Ekert discussed the current mood of the distribution landscape, advances in new distribution capability and how penetration might grow in 2024 and the move to "offer and order" sales.
He also talks about Sabre's partnership with Google and the importance of the move to the cloud and modular technology.
Finally, he touches on artificial intelligence and, more specifically, generative AI and how Sabre is using the technology now as well as its potential going forward.
Watch or listen to the full interview with PhocusWire senior reporter Linda Fox.
