Sabre is preparing for a future of agentic artificial intelligence in travel and aviation with the launch of its first software protocols that will underpin AI-driven agents.

The US-based Global Distribution System and technology developer announced the upcoming release of its first agentic solutions this week during the T2RLEngage conference in London.

The firm said the new technology builds on the “expansive reach and richness of its industry-leading travel data cloud to power a new era of AI- driven retailing”.

New agentic-ready APIs will be supported by a proprietary Model Context Protocol (MCP) server – a universal translator designed to make the complex language of travel technology understandable to any AI Agent.

The first capabilities will focus on flights, hotels and post-booking services.

Sabre said these tools will “unlock the ability for AI to seamlessly shop, book, service and optimise trips in real time – moving agentic AI from promise to practical reality as a critical accelerator for travel industry innovation.

It added: “By empowering agentic AI, Sabre’s ambition is to move beyond digital optimisation to solve customer pain-points that typically drain time and patience.”

Garry Wiseman,  Sabre chief product and technology officer, said: “There’s a difference between being smart and being truly intelligent at scale.

“With our new MCP server and agentic-ready APIs – supported by Sabre IQ and our industry-leading travel data set – we’re planting a stake in the ground.

“This is the smartest enterprise AI solution in travel, designed for the entire industry to build on. Future possibilities are becoming reality – and Sabre is driving that change.”

The sort of agentic tools Sabre expects to be built using its new software and MCP include:

• An IROPS call-centre proxy agent that waits on hold with an airline, secures a same-day rebooking, pays with stored card details and updates the traveller’s calendar automatically, for example;
• A hotel opps agent that calls at midnight to confirm a late arrival, ensures the room isn’t resold and arranges oat milk for breakfast; an Agent-to-Agent Collaboration Agent that works directly with another agency’s AI to finalise complex exchanges such as split tickets or fare combinability;
• A visa and compliance agent that complete online applications, pays fees and attaches documents to the booking record;
• An expense filing agent that gathers receipts, codes them correctly and submits a full report in line with company policy.

Sabre believes these laborious tasks are what travellers will  use agentic AI for as they are integrated into travel processes to make the experience smoother and less costly.

Underpinning this shift to agentic is Sabre IQ, a “systemic AI layer”. Sabre said it has advanced from powering retail optimisation to using Large Language Model (LLM) technology that understands and responds in natural, conversational language.

Sabre claims its IQ AI layer is powered by an “unrivalled bedrock of travel intelligence” built on its Travel Data Cloud, developed in partnership with Google.

This contains more than 50 petabytes of historical and real-time signals which are aggregated, anonymised, and encrypted to comply with contractual and legal obligations.

Sabre added: “Unlike fragmented, one-off tools, Sabre’s new agentic capabilities are natively integrated into SabreMosaic, the company’s modular, cloud-native platform.

“This means airlines, agencies, and developers can seamlessly adopt agentic workflows without sacrificing scale, resilience, or trust.

“For travel sellers, this translates into real business value: automation of complex workflows, lower servicing costs, smarter itineraries, and more opportunities to upsell relevant, personalised offers that convert.

Together, these innovations mark the start of a new chapter in travel retailing – one where AI works seamlessly across the ecosystem, and Sabre is setting the pace for what comes next.”