Virgin America has renewed its partnership with Sabre Holdings, just two days after the airline said it had agreed to join Airlines Reporting Corp, an airline-owned clearing house for ticket shares. The news that Virgin America is making closer ties to those companies is in stark contrast with a push by American Airlines to sell more business directly to third parties.
Virgin America expects to implement Sabre's new reservations and operational systems late this year, which will allow the airline to exploit new revenue channels, including future code-sharing alliances.