Year 2000 Challenge

Computers the world over soon may have a problem when they are asked to operate and process dates after Dec. 31, 1999.  For thousands of companies around the world, the Year 2000 problem poses technology challenges that require careful planning and coordination, both within those companies and other companies with whom they do business.

Impact on Travel and Transportation

The travel and transportation industries depend heavily on computer automation for advance travel bookings and complex planning functions.

Because of their early booking and planning needs, many travel and transportation companies will require during the first quarter of 1999 systems that can process year 2000 dates.  Business travelers and vacationers alike will want to be able to make travel plans beyond the year 2000 without
computer system incidents.

Travel Technology

The SABRE Group (NYSE: TSG) is the world's leading provider of technology to the travel and transportation industries, distributing travel products for more than 420 airlines, 40,000 hotel locations and 50 car rental companies worldwide.

For travel planning and booking, more than 40,000 travel agents use the SABRE global distribution system, and nearly 4 million Internet customers are registered users of Travelocity (www.travelocity.com), a leading travel planning and reservations site.

The SABRE Group also provides technology outsourcing services to major airlines like American Airlines, US Airways, and Canadian Airlines and to dozens of other airlines. The company supplies leading-edge technology to airlines, hotels, railroads, trucking lines and other travel and transportation companies for use in logistics planning, revenue management, cargo tracking and other applications.

Year 2000 Project

The SABRE Group's Year 2000 project, begun in 1995, is designed to ensure that hardware and software systems operated or licensed in its business, including systems provided to its travel agency subscribers and technology outsourcing customers, are prepared to operate and properly manage dates beyond 1999.

The company's total estimated cost for the Year 2000 project is approximately $80 million to $95 million, of which approximately $44 million had been incurred as of June 30, 1998. Most of the remaining expense, principally related to subscriber implementation efforts, is expected to be incurred during the remainder of 1998. Early planning, careful correction and thorough testing are keys to successfully managing The SABRE Group's vast Year 2000 project. The project involves checking more than 200 million lines of software code, confirming proper system interfaces with more than 600 hundred suppliers, providing new software for in excess of 40,000 travel agencies, and testing more than 1200 hardware and software systems. Currently, The SABRE Group has applied the equivalent of more than 700 full-time employees to the project and logged more than one million labor hours to its Year 2000 project.

Year 2000 Project Progress

The majority of The SABRE Group's core systems are either completed or in the final testing phases of the Year 2000 project.
 
 

Contingency Plans

The SABRE Group will develop and implement contingency plans designed to allow its systems to continue to operate in the event of a year 2000-related problem.  This includes maintaining a dedicated staff available at crucial dates to remedy unforeseen problems.

In addition, defensive code will be installed to protect the company's real-time systems from improperly formatted date data supplied by third parties. Despite all of The SABRE Group's planning and efforts, problems associated with 2000 could still occur. Other companies in the travel and transportation industries, as well as related government agencies, must work to ensure that the world's transportation infrastructure is ready. The SABRE Group is working diligently to ensure that our customers -- and the traveling public -- can depend on our systems well beyond the year 2000.

About The SABRE Group

The SABRE Group is a world leader in the electronic distribution of travel and travel-related services around the globe, and is a leading provider of information technology solutions for the travel and transportation industries, including customized software development and software products, transaction processing, consulting and total information technology outsourcing.

SABRE and Travelocity are registered service marks, and The SABRE Group logo is a service mark of an affiliate of The SABRE Group Inc. 

Statements in this news release which are not purely historical facts, including statements regarding the expected costs and completion dates for The SABRE Group's Year 2000 project, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements in this news release are based on information available to The SABRE Group on the date of this release. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements, including risks such as the unavailability or excessive cost of trained personnel, the inability to locate and correct all relevant computer code, and failures to timely achieve Year 2000 readiness by systems provided or operated by The SABRE Group, utilities, telecommunications and data providers, credit card transaction processors and others with which the Company's systems interface, or systems on which travel and transportation companies rely. The SABRE Group undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking-statements.