About Dave Harvey
Dave Harvey, Vice President & Chief Sales Officer at Southwest Airlines, has been involved in discussions about the recovery of business travel and the expansion of Southwest's distribution channels. In April 2021, Harvey spoke with Erika Moore of Sabre, describing the sentiment toward travel recovery as "cautiously optimistic" and noting that leisure travel was strong while corporate travel was beginning to pick up. He stated that Southwest Business was focused on making it easier for businesses to do business with the airline and providing "channel of choice." In a separate November 2020 conversation with Amadeus President Decius Valmorbida, Harvey discussed the first anniversary of Southwest Business, a unit launched in August 2019 to improve the airline's service to corporate customers. He said that customers had requested Southwest content through Amadeus, and that the integration between the two companies' teams had enabled a rapid launch. Harvey also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had been "tremendously challenging" for the industry, but expressed optimism about a rebound, stating that he expected a "Roaring 20s" recovery over the following 18 to 24 months.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Dave Harvey's recent appearances.
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Transcript (5 segments)
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Dave Harvey0:14
For businesses to do business with us and providing channel of choice. It has been a tremendously challenging 12 months, not only for Southwest but for the entire industry. And here with me today is my good friend, Erika Moore at Sabre. They happen to be the largest GDS provider in North America and a preferred channel for many of our mutual customers. Erika, thanks for being here today.
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Erika Moore0:38
Thank you so much for the invitation. It's really great to be here celebrating our partnership. You're right, spring has sprung. We're well on our way and we're seeing trends pick up. Certainly leisure is very strong but corporate travel is starting to pick up.
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Dave Harvey1:10
We're seeing the same things. It's tied to the opening of corporate headquarters, regional offices. A lot of these companies are trying to figure out what this flexible workplace looks like for so many employees, and then I think the travel programs are attached at the hip. On a personal level, we've met a few times, and the ability to be here in person says a lot. For the teams, this is an exciting moment. Just building the relationship, getting the teams together, the warmth. We not only have an immediate task with the go-live, but it'll help with the partnership in the long run. Southwest is not only making major investments in GDSs like Sabre, an industry standard GDS.
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Erika Moore2:13
Is that the case?
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Dave Harvey2:14
Absolutely. It's a huge year. It's actually our golden anniversary. Thank you for wearing our heart. On June 18, 2021, we will have been operating for 50 years. That's a great milestone. I believe that we've been partners for more than 26 years, Southwest and Sabre. What a great way to celebrate. We've definitely come a very long way. If you think about what we're going to be delivering for our mutual customers, all our Sabre-connected travel buyers and agencies are going to have a seamless shopping experience for Southwest. I can't wait to hear the testimonials from our customers once it's fully live.
