Sabre, the largest provider of airline information technology to Aeroflot, said on Thursday morning it would stop providing distribution services to the Russian flag carrier, essentially preventing it from selling tickets. Sabre is among the Western travel technology giants, along with Amadeus and Travelport, that are feeling pressure to retreat from Russia while that country invades Ukraine.
“We are taking a stand against this military conflict,” said Sean Menke, CEO of Sabre. “We’re complying, and will continue to comply, with sanctions imposed against Russia. In addition, today we announced that Sabre has terminated its distribution agreement with Aeroflot, removing its content from our GDS [global distribution system].”
UPDATE 10 am ET: Amadeus said it was also pulling Aeroflot fares from its reservation systems for agencies.
“We will not sign any new contracts in Russia and we continue to evaluate our existing portfolio of work in Russia in…