Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) has ended its distribution agreement with Sabre Airline Solutions as of September 1, 2024, as it pushes towards more direct bookings through its forthcoming TKConnect platform.
“Despite Sabre’s intense efforts, we have not been able to reach mutually beneficial and commercially reasonable terms, and Turkish Airlines has decided to discontinue distributing its content through Sabre,” the global distribution system (GDS) told Skift in a statement.
The carrier in turn blamed the GDS for not “reciprocating efforts” to continue the agreement under terms similar to those Turkish Airlines has with other platforms.
The airline expects to launch TKConnect in October. The platform will be exempt from distribution fees and aims to provide additional functionalities and ancillaries. The launch will be accompanied by the implementation of a new booking fee for legacy GDSs and the removal of some fares from their distribution channels.