Russia-Ukraine conflict: Sabre terminates distribution agreement with Aeroflot, blocking seat sales

Sabre Corporation, one of the leading technology companies in the travel industry, announced its decision to terminate its distribution agreement with Aeroflot. This decision comes in the context of the multiple sanctions, the Russian economy is facing following the invasion of Ukraine.

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The removal of Aeroflot from Sabre’s global distribution system (GDS) has the potential to be very damaging for the Russian company as it’s used by travel agencies and companies around the world to access its services. It remains to be seen whether this will also be extended to other modules used in Aeroflot’s operations, such as the passenger service system (PSS). In such case, this would be far more devastating.

«Sabre has been following the evolving situation in Ukraine with growing concern. From the beginning, our primary focus has been the safety of our team members in the affected region, as well as doing our part to support much-needed relief efforts,» said Sean Menke, CEO of Sabre.

«We are taking a stand against this military conflict. We are complying and will continue to comply, with the sanctions imposed on Russia. In addition, today we announced that Sabre has terminated its distribution agreement with Aeroflot, removing its content from our GDS,» he added.

Sabre also clarified that they will closely monitor the situation to assess whether they will need to take further action.

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The company reported that they have donated $1 million to the Polish Red Cross to assist them in their efforts to care for the thousands of refugees in that country, where Sabre employs 1,500 people.

In recent days Aeroflot has also suffered the termination of code-share agreements with different airlines. Meanwhile, it will also face the repossession of the aircraft it leases through lessors based in Western countries.

See also: Delta Air Lines stops codeshare with Aeroflot