EmQuest & Sabre UAE GDS Migration Project

One of the major challenges during the EmQuest & Sabre partnership transition (2008–2009) was managing and supporting a large-scale operational and infrastructure transformation across the UAE travel industry within aggressive deployment timelines.

The project involved the operational alignment and migration support of approximately 800+ travel agency locations and deployment planning for more than 3,400+ workstations across the UAE. This required extensive coordination between technical, operational, infrastructure, training, and customer support teams.

Key challenges included:

• Managing deployment, migration, and support operations across 500+ travel agency branches and customer locations throughout the UAE.
• Coordinating installation, replacement, and upgrade activities for more than 3,400 Sabre-connected workstations, printers, and desktop environments.
• Providing computer hardware, ticketing printers, network setup, and infrastructure support for Sabre-connected travel agencies.
• Ensuring successful deployment and configuration of Sabre applications including MySabre, Sabre for Windows, Sabre Printing Module, and communication components across distributed agency environments.
• Managing connectivity readiness involving VPN communication, firewall configurations, bandwidth validation, and desktop compatibility across customer infrastructures.
• Supporting agencies with different operational workflows, infrastructure standards, technical capabilities, and security environments.
• Preparing and coordinating multiple Sabre training centers across the UAE to support large-scale onboarding and GDS training activities for travel agents during the transition period.
• Coordinating operational support related to airline reservation systems, ticketing operations, desktop applications, and day-to-day travel agency requirements.
• Managing rollout schedules, logistics, equipment deployment, technical support, and migration sequencing without disrupting live travel agency operations.
• Coordinating between Sabre technical teams, EmQuest management, trainers, engineers, sales teams, and customer IT departments throughout the deployment lifecycle.
• Supporting custom workflow requirements, integration planning, operational procedures, and business continuity during the transition to the Sabre ecosystem.
• Assisting in a major regional transition initiative supported by more than 100 combined Sabre and EmQuest personnel working on deployment, migration, equipment rollout, and training operations.

The success of the EmQuest & Sabre partnership transition was driven through a highly structured project management and deployment approach led by Sabre’s professional project management team, particularly Ferry and Susan, who played a critical role in coordinating and driving the initiative across all operational areas.

A centralized execution and communication model was established to ensure that every stage of the transition was properly planned, coordinated, monitored, and executed across multiple stakeholders throughout the UAE.

Key solution areas included:

• Establishing a dedicated project management structure to coordinate the large-scale transition involving approximately 800+ travel agency branches and more than 3,400+ workstations across the UAE.
• Maintaining close coordination between Sabre management, EmQuest teams, technical engineers, deployment teams, trainers, sales teams, and customer IT departments throughout the migration lifecycle.
• Creating detailed rollout schedules, installation plans, deployment sequencing, and migration timelines to ensure controlled execution with minimal disruption to travel agency operations.
• Coordinating on-ground technical teams responsible for workstation deployment, printer setup, Sabre installations, connectivity validation, and infrastructure readiness.
• Preparing agencies for migration through proper communication, infrastructure assessment, deployment planning, and operational readiness activities.
• Establishing multiple training centers across the UAE and aligning training schedules to support large-scale onboarding and GDS training for travel agents during the transition period.
• Standardizing deployment procedures, installation processes, connectivity configurations, and support workflows across agency environments.
• Managing customer coordination and stakeholder communication to ensure transparency, planning accuracy, and operational continuity throughout the transition.
• Supporting infrastructure planning involving VPN connectivity, firewall requirements, bandwidth validation, and Sabre application deployment standards.
• Coordinating technical consultation and migration planning discussions related to Sabre APIs, desktop environments, workflows, and operational requirements with DNATA DFO and EmQuest teams.

This structured project execution model helped ensure a smooth operational transition and enabled successful large-scale deployment activities across the UAE travel agency network.