Kicking off proceedings with a bang, Sabre Corporation began the first day of its STX conference at the Sands Marina Hotel in Singapore with a joint press conference with China Eastern Airlines to announce the launch of the Shanghai-based carrier’s new Airline Operation Centre.

The new system will use Sabre’s existing AirCentre suite – built to organise and manage flights as well as to provide real-time ops feedback – as the core system provider of China Eastern’s “next generation” flight management platform.

“Seamless, end-to-end integration capabilities”

Discussing why China Eastern had opted to develop their relationship with the US-based company on the project, Jiang Jiang senior vice president of China Eastern Airlines noted: “Sabre’s scalability, flexibility and superior automation and optimization capabilities best support our dynamic operation environment. Their cutting-edge technology will provide us with seamless, end-to-end integration capabilities, which are essential to China Eastern as we become a fully integrated airline.”

“In addition to their advanced technology solutions, we also selected Sabre as our partner for their strong local presence and in-depth understanding of China’s unique industry requirements,” he added.

Through the use of the Sabre tech, China Eastern will be able to optimise flight plans, deliver accurate flight monitoring capabilities, reduce the workload of dispatchers, and increase productivity. China Eastern will use also Sabre’s flight movement system to enable fast decision making and facilitate operation recovery, which will directly contribute to improved operational safety and efficiency of the carrier.

“Unique market expertise”

“Our unique market expertise will drive the implementation of China Eastern’s next generation Airline Operations Centre,” said Dave Shirk, president of Sabre Travel Solutions. “With access to our innovative technology and Sabre’s commitment to the China market, the airline will be well equipped to address the highly competitive environment and meet its corporate growth objectives.

“With this broad technology partnership, Sabre will drive China Eastern’s transition to become a connected airline by supporting their commercial and operational objectives.”