June 13, (THEWILL) – United Nigeria Airlines (UNA), one of the fastest growing airlines in Nigeria, has chosen Sabre Corporation as the carrier prepares to expand its operations into regional, international and intercontinental services.
With UNA’s availability in the Global Distribution System (GDS), the airline stands to benefit from the over 50,000 travel agents across 200 countries, a situation that is expected to enhance their sales arrangements and ticketing.
Before now, a few domestic carriers operating in Nigeria were available through GDS, coordinated either by Amadeus, Sabre, or Travelport. Airlines, Travel Agents and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), which use GDS to access and book flights and other travel products.
Speaking at the unveiling of the platform in Lagos on Friday at its office in Lagos, Chairman of UNA, Prof Obiora Okonkwo, said that this migration to Sabre network would ensure the airline matches its capacity and aircraft type with demand, adding that it would also enhance interlining planning for the airline across its network.
According to Okonkwo, with this partnership, UNA has now become one of the few Nigerian carriers on the Global Distribution System (GDS).
Okonkwo explained that the integration of Sabre was part of its promise at the beginning of the year to enhance its Information Technology (IT) and innovative ideas.
He also commended the Sabre and the airline’s teams for the migration, maintaining that it would further accelerate its Lagos-Accra route, which is slated to commence on August 25, 2025.
He said, “This is in keeping with our promise to go global as quickly as we can. These are things that we have lined up as part of our objectives that have been a little delayed by the turbulence in the country that we are seeing, especially in the aviation sector, in the last two to three years. We can be delayed, but we can’t be stopped.
“We understand the challenges that this is coming with, but with over 50,000 agents in 200 countries with the capacity to buy our tickets, it means we have more seats to sell. We need to increase our inventory.
“We have good news for you. By this time next year, we will have increased our capacity by over 2,000 percent. From October to November this year, we will be inducting into our fleet not less than four big body aircraft and from February to April next year, we are adding six Boeing 737-800NG aircraft into our fleet.
“We know it has been very challenging, but we are not less determined, we are not giving up, we will continue to do our best and continue to count on the public, hoping that they will understand what we do to make things better.”
Also, the Vice President of Sabre Travel, Central and West Africa, Dr Dare Olayiwola, assured that the company would supply to the airline a quality IT solution to enhance its performance.
Dare explained that through the integration, UNA would benefit from the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the travel industry, stressing that this would serve the customers better, help the travel agencies to sell in a better way and assist the travellers with the right experience in the industry.
He confirmed that this would enable UNA to have access to all the travel channels that Sabre operates, either via the Online Travel Agency (OTA) or through other desired travel agencies.
He added that “in Sabre, we are very much committed to ensure that our technical capability is well-implemented with United Nigeria as we do for other airlines globally.
“Also, we have a very big market place with over 200 countries currently and over 50,000 travel agencies globally working on our platform and this will put United Nigeria in that platform and accessible to all travel agencies globally and all those travel management companies like Shell, Chevron, Total and other big firms, irrespective of your location throughout the world. United Nigeria is going to be accessible.”
Besides, Mr Robert Brian, Sabre Corporation’s Director of Africa and Europe, lauded the UNA team for adopting the technology.
He said that with this, the company would integrate the airline into the rest of the world.
“We are an American company, but we have been working in Africa for years. Today is special because you can now book through GDS in Nigeria.
“Travel agencies in Tokyo and New York, and anywhere in the world, can now see your flight. This shows that the industry in Nigeria is advancing. There are strong players here, and United Nigeria has shown what the future can do.”
Commending United Nigeria Airlines, National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) Vice President, Lagos Zone, Yinka Olapade, stated that the airline is taking the right steps in the right direction, assuring that the association will work and support the airline.
Olapade emphasised that the association will cooperate and work with the airline to achieve its goals.
Explaining further on their expansion plans, Okonkwo hinted that the airline is about to go global with destinations to the United Kingdom, United States of America, United Arab Emirates, Johannesburg, Dakar, among other African countries.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
