Qantas has new selling point in Air N.Z. bid

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 8

Qantas has new selling point in Air N.Z. bid

By

NICK BROWN

NZPA Sydney Qantas has formed a regional offshoot to American Airlines’ computer reservation system, in a move seen as crucial to a new bid for a stake in Air New Zealand. Qantas’s chief executive, John Menadue, yesterday announced the formation of a new company to tailor the system, called Sabre, for needs of subscribers in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

“Japan Air Lines and All Nippon Airways have a plan to establish a system in Japan,” he said. “Once this system is formed, it will be linked to the new one in Australia, providing one of

the world’s biggest travel distribution systems.” The ;Sabre computer reservation system (CRS) accounts for 43 per cent of air travel revenue in the United States, according to United States Department of Transport statistics. It is competing against other networks to attract travel agents as subscribers and give airline members an edge when travellers book flights. Industry sources expect Qantas to use the Sabre link as a selling point for another Air New Zealand bid.

The Qantas negotiating team, lead by the general manager (finance), Larry Olsen, is in Wellington to make a new offer for up

1 to 35 per cent of Air New Zealand. ’ Tenders close this . week. A decision was expected before March 31, said a Treasury spokesman. But Australia’s Govern-ment-owned international ; carrier has had a setback . with the Government- ' owned domestic carrier, Australian Airlines, understood to have chosen to join the British Airwaysbacked Galileo CRS. An announcement was expected from Australian Airlines and Australia’s other main airline, Ansett,

to the effect that they had combined in a joint venture to run Galileo in Australia and New Zealand.

Australian Airlines had been expected to join Qantas in its Sabre venture, rather than link with its domestic rival, Ansett. Industry sources were divided on how Australian Airlines’ choice to join Galileo would affect Qantas’s partial bid for Air New Zealand. Some believed it would encourage Air New Zealand to join the Galileo system and thus strengthen a bid from a consortium including British Airways. But other observers believed that co-operating in the system with Ansett might not hold much appeal for Air New Zealand, in view of their bitter rivalry on New Zealand dometic routes.