Sabre (NASDAQ:SABR) reported second-quarter 2026 results that exceeded its expectations, supported by growth in Marketplace revenue, a higher average booking fee and continued strength in corporate travel volumes. The company raised its full-year outlook for pro forma adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow while reaffirming its projections for revenue and air distribution bookings growth.
Revenue rose 4% year over year to $712 million, while normalized adjusted EBITDA increased 19% to $151 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 272 basis points to 21.2%, and free cash flow was positive $10 million for the quarter.
Bookings Outpace Expectations Despite Travel Headwinds
Air distribution bookings increased 1% year over year during the quarter, exceeding the company’s outlook. Marketplace revenue increased $31 million, or 6%, reflecting a 1.5% gain in distribution bookings and a 4% increase in average booking fee. Sabre said the higher booking fee included contributions from its payments and media offerings.
Ekert said Sabre’s booking growth rate has outpaced the broader industry by about 600 basis points since late 2025. He attributed the company’s relative performance to continued share gains, growth in its low-cost carrier platform and NDC expansion.
Corporate travel, which accounts for nearly half of Sabre’s Marketplace bookings, remained resilient during the quarter and helped offset weaker leisure demand. Ekert said corporate and travel management company volumes represent about 45% of Sabre’s distribution volume, compared with an estimated 25% to 30% for the industry.
However, the company continued to see effects from the Middle East conflict and higher fuel prices, which contributed to airline fare increases. Sabre estimated that the combined global impact from fuel costs and the conflict reduced second-quarter performance by roughly 300 to 400 basis points, with EMEA and Asia-Pacific facing relatively greater pressure.
Sabre said a modest recovery in June continued into July. For the third quarter, it expects air distribution bookings and revenue to grow from flat to low single digits year over year. For the fourth quarter, it expects low- to mid-single-digit growth.
Updated Financial Outlook and Liquidity
Chief Financial Officer Mike Randolfi said roughly two-thirds of Sabre’s second-quarter adjusted EBITDA outperformance versus its guidance came from higher gross income, driven by average booking fee strength and higher air distribution bookings. The remainder reflected the timing of technology investments that are now expected to occur in the second half of the year.
Sabre increased its full-year pro forma adjusted EBITDA outlook to approximately $600 million and improved its full-year free cash flow forecast to approximately negative $65 million, from its prior outlook of negative $70 million. Randolfi said the expected negative free cash flow is driven almost entirely by roughly $60 million in restructuring costs tied to the company’s inflation offset program. Excluding those costs, Sabre would expect near break-even free cash flow for the year.
The company ended the quarter with $697 million in cash. It also signed an agreement with existing lenders to extend its accounts receivable securitization facility through September 2029. Following that extension and prior refinancing actions, Sabre said it has no debt maturities until 2029.
- Third-quarter normalized adjusted EBITDA is expected to be approximately $155 million.
- Fourth-quarter normalized adjusted EBITDA is expected to be approximately $125 million.
- Airline Technology revenue is expected to be between $140 million and $150 million in each of the third and fourth quarters.
- Sabre expects approximately $80 million of free cash flow in the second half, primarily in the fourth quarter.
Sabre also increased its capital expenditure outlook by $10 million. It expects technology expense to rise in the second half as it invests further in product development, including artificial intelligence, Sabre Mosaic and lodging initiatives.
AI, Payments and Airline Technology Initiatives
Sabre said it is expanding investment in AI and views agentic AI as an emerging travel distribution channel. The company’s developer ecosystem included hundreds of developers working in its production environment, according to Ekert.
During the second quarter, Sabre doubled the number of active pilot and production partners using its agentic APIs and Model Context Protocol server to 60 from 30. The company said its MCP server was recently deployed with a global enterprise loyalty and travel service company, enabling AI agents to perform servicing tasks such as ticket reissues, exchanges and itinerary changes.
Sabre also partnered with Vocal Bridge and DeepLearning.AI to host a Silicon Valley hackathon. More than 400 developers participated and submitted more than 100 projects built using Sabre’s agentic APIs and MCP server, the company said.
Elsewhere, hotel-related revenue growth accelerated to 11% year over year, driven by a higher hotel attach rate and continued media revenue growth. Sabre said its hotel attach rate reached about 35%. Payments Suite gross spend exceeded $6 billion during the quarter, up more than 30% from a year earlier, and surpassed a $25 billion annualized run rate.
NDC represented about 5% of Sabre’s distribution volume and continued to grow, according to Ekert. He said NDC economics are slightly dilutive to revenue and margins outside Europe, while the impact is more material in Europe because prevailing traditional booking fees are higher there. Europe represents about 16% of Sabre’s global point-of-sale bookings, he said.
Airline Technology Growth and Competitive Concerns
Airline Technology revenue totaled $135 million, broadly in line with Sabre’s expectations. Randolfi said quarterly results can vary because about half of the segment’s revenue comes from passengers boarded, while the other half is linked to license fees and performance deliverables.
Sabre reiterated that it expects Airline Technology revenue to grow in 2026 and said it is optimistic about 2027. Ekert said an African carrier selected Sabre as its new technology platform provider, with plans to migrate core passenger service operations to Sabre’s platform and adopt Sabre Mosaic NDC IT capabilities. Implementation is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
Ekert also said Sabre continues to have concerns about what it views as Amadeus leveraging its passenger service systems position to limit alternative providers in the market for offer, order, settlement and delivery capabilities. He cited airline data access restrictions, API limitations, high integration costs and extended integration delays as concerns, while positioning Sabre’s approach as focused on openness and modularity.
About Sabre (NASDAQ:SABR)
Sabre Corporation is a leading travel technology company that provides software, data, mobile and distribution solutions to the global travel industry. Through its Sabre travel marketplace, the company operates one of the world’s principal global distribution systems (GDS), connecting travel buyers and suppliers across airlines, hotels, car rental companies and other travel providers. Sabre’s suite of products includes reservation and ticketing systems for travel agencies, comprehensive airline operations and passenger services solutions, as well as hospitality property management and central reservation systems for hotels.
Established in 1960 as a joint venture between American Airlines and IBM, Sabre introduced one of the first computerized airline reservation systems, pioneering the automation of ticketing and inventory control.
