Sabre's Overseas Expansion On Track Under New President

Back on this side of the Atlantic for less than a month, new Sabre Travel Information Network president Eric Speck already is feeling at home and sounding confident. Speck, who was involved in the development of Sabre's 1997 game plan, credits his 18-month stint as vice president of European operations with giving him the broad experience that made him the man to tap when Jeff Katz announced he was headed to the corner office at Swissair (BTN, March 17).

"Our European operation is a standalone subsidiary, and it's the only position at the vice president level where you have all the disciplines-marketing, sales and services and local product development-reporting to you," Speck said.

Playing the hardball version of the distribution game played in countries dominated by national carriers taught him "how successful we can be when we compete on the basis of products and services on a level playing field," he said.

In his new role, Speck's first message to the market is simple. "Our plan for 1997 was developed by all the vice presidents, including me, so there aren't going to be a lot of changes," he said. "We are going to continue our international expansion, with Europe remaining a high priority, and continued growth in Latin American and Asian markets important as well. On the product side, we're focusing on the release of Planet Sabre and TurboSabre, and the delivery of BTS on a wide variety of platforms to a wide variety of customers."

What he declined to include in that plan-at least on the record-was the possibility that Sabre will face the possibility of a spinoff from parent company AMR Corp., which already has taken a piece of the company public. He acknowledged that "there is a possibility that AMR could sell its remaining stake in Sabre, but no decision has been made."

Meanwhile, Speck's move up the ladder has left room for others to advance as well. Thomas Klein was named Latin America vice president, as Michael G. Parks was bumped up from that position to replace Speck in Europe.