Which airline introduced SABRE, the first major computerized airline reservation system, in 1960?

American Airlines introduced SABRE, the first major computerized airline reservation system, in 1960.

SABRE, short for Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment, was developed by American Airlines with IBM. It replaced a slow manual process in which reservation staff telephoned one another and updated paper records to check seat availability.

The system was based on technology and organizational ideas related to military real-time data processing. It allowed reservation information to be stored and updated centrally, greatly reducing the time needed to confirm bookings and helping airlines manage large networks.

SABRE is often described as the ancestor of modern airline booking systems, although it was not the first computer system ever used in aviation. Its importance came from applying real-time computerized inventory control to a large commercial airline.