Leading airline global distribution systems, Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport have removed fares of Aeroflot, the largest government-majority owned carrier in Russia, from their systems.
Sabre was one of the first to terminate its distribution agreement with Aeroflot. The company said it was taking “immediate steps” to remove Aeroflot flight content from its global distribution system, meaning Russia’s largest airline will now not be shown in its “marketplace used by travel agencies, travel websites and corporations around the world to shop, book and service flight reservations.”
“Sabre has been monitoring the evolving situation in Ukraine with increasing concern. From the beginning, our primary focus has been the safety of our team members in the impacted region, as well as doing our part to support the much-needed relief efforts,” said Sean Menke, chief executive of Sabre.
“We are taking a stand against this military conflict. We are complying, and will continue to comply, with sanctions imposed against Russia. In addition, today we announced that Sabre has terminated its distribution agreement with Aeroflot, removing its content from our GDS.”
Sabre provides reservations, passenger services, operations, network planning and management systems. These are core automation systems, commercial, operations and planning systems, without which airlines cannot function, except minimally and manually. By removing Aeroflot flights from its GDS, the carrier will be unable to receive any forward bookings from travel agencies, online travel agencies, travel management companies and other ticket sellers connected to the system.
Travel technology company, Amadeus too said it has started suspending the distribution of Aeroflot fares in its systems. “We will not sign any new contracts in Russia and we continue to evaluate our existing portfolio of work in Russia in parallel,” Amadeus said in a statement.
“At the same time, we continue to assess and evaluate the potential impact of international sanctions imposed on Russia and any counter-measures by Russia,” the statement said.
Travelport too, have suspended all Aeroflot sales from their distribution platform. According to a statement, “Like most companies and the world at large, Travelport has been closely monitoring the developing situation in Ukraine. We have been shocked and saddened by the events taking place, and our first priority continues to be the safety and security of our employees and our partners in the region. We have been diligently working alongside global governments to continue to uphold the sanctions imposed against Russia. Additionally, we have taken the decision to immediately suspend Aeroflot sales from the platform.”
Moves to take Aeroflot flights out of global distribution are the latest measures against Russia’s aviation industry after most of the western world closed airspace to Russian aircraft. Earlier this week, Boeing and Airbus said they would no longer do business with Russian customers.
