Ethiopian launched its new Sabre Sonic passenger service management information system at midnight on November 3, 2006, switching from the French SITA system which it had used since 1981; the system was made available to passengers at 8am the next day.
 

The system was introduced after a 10.5 million-dollar agreement between Ethiopian and Sabre Airline Solutions, an American company, in a contract signed by Girma Wake, CEO of Ethiopian, and Murray Smith, senior vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in December 2005.
 

Kemeredin Bedru, acting vice president of IT at Ethiopian, said that the change to the new system was necessary for two reasons. The first was the 2004 decision by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the governing body of the travel industry, that all ticketing transactions would be electronic as of December 31, 2007.
 

The second reason, he said, was Ethiopian’s vision to be Africa’s world class airline by 2010. In order to fulfil this vision, changing passenger management system was one core point along with the introduction of the B787 Dreamliner aircraft.
 

On October 2, 2006, Ethiopian also upgraded the already existing ShebaMiles frequent flyer programme on the company’s website after migrating it to the Sabre system. This allows frequent flyers to access their account through the website for information on how many miles they have accumulated or to make a request for award travel. Members can also book and confirm their award travels through the Sabre Sonic online booking engine and reservation system.
 

Henock Wubishet, senior project manager for marketing and sales, said during a press conference on November 3 that the system includes reservation, pricing, e-ticketing, check-in, Internet booking, and a credit card facility. Once everything is finalised, the system will accept VISA, MasterCard, American Express and Diner’s Club credit cards.
 

The Sabre Sonic system provides excellent customer service, according to Keremedin. In the long term it has a cost saving opportunity for the company, as e-ticketing through the new system costs only between one to two dollars as compared to 10 dollars through the old system. IATA estimates that the Sabre Sonic systems saves the global airline industry up to three billion dollars a year. Ethiopian has already started e-ticketing in its offices in Nairobi, Frankfurt, Johannesburg and Washington DC.
 

Henock said that the Sabre Sonic e-ticketing is already in use by airlines in over 100 countries, including such international airlines as British Airways, American Airways, Quantas, Iberia and Japan Airlines. Ethiopian will be the first airline in Africa to use the integrated, end-to-end system which incorporates all services from booking to issuing e-tickets.

For the time being the system is only applicable for international flights. Domestic flights, which are one of the concerns of IATA, will also be included in the system at an unspecified time in the future, said Henock.