JetBlue Leaves Open Skies for Sabre

The changing needs of low cost carriers have become apparent once again as JetBlue has decided to ditch the bare bones Open Skies reservation system for Sabre instead.

It used to be that low cost carriers wanted everything to be simple in order to save money. For that reason, the Open Skies system thrived. It allowed airlines to take bookings but it didn’t really handle complicated transactions well. At the time it didn’t matter, but now it does.

JetBlue has started to dive into interline and codesharing opportunities including one with Aer Lingus and the eventual Lufthansa deal (now that Lufthansa is a minority shareholder). They want complicated codesharing opportunities, and that is no easy feat. Southwest wants codesharing with Mexican and Canadian carriers. Virgin America’s efforts to codeshare with other Virgin carriers have been delayed by problematic technology. The bottom line is that the growing needs of the low cost carrier business require stepping it up a notch on the technology side.

That’s why we’re seeing the resurgence of old line firms like Sabre in the low cost carrier world. Dealing with these issues isn’t easy, and low cost carriers are finally realizing that they need some expertise in these areas.