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Flight Centre

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Flight Centre Travel Group
Company typePublic company
ASX: FLT
IndustryTravel
Founded1982; 42 years ago (1982)
HeadquartersBrisbane, Queensland, Australia
Key people
Graham Turner[1]
ServicesTravel agency
Number of employees
14,000 (March 2020)[2]
DivisionsFlight Centre Australia
Flight Centre UK
Flight Centre Canada
SubsidiariesOlympus Tours
StudentUniverse
FCM Travel Solutions
Liberty Travel
Aunt Betty
Flight Centre Exclusives
Websitewww.fctgl.com (corporate)
Footnotes / references
[3]
Flight Centre store in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) is a large retail travel agency in Australia. It was founded in 1982, and is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia.

FCTG has many stores and offices under various retail and corporate brands. It operates in Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, Hong Kong, India, China, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and Mexico. FCTG has licensee arrangements in a further 80 countries under the corporate brand, FCM Travel Solutions.[3]

In the United States, the company operates under the Liberty Travel and Travel Associates retail brands and GOGO Worldwide Vacations as a wholesale brand. It also operates StudentUniverse, FCM Travel Solutions, Corporate Traveler, ciEvents, Campus Travel and Stage & Screen and Healthwise. The North American headquarters is in Montvale, New Jersey.

History

The company was co-founded by Graham Turner and Geoff Harris in 1982 and began with a store in Sydney. In 1995, Flight Centre UK and Flight Centre Canada opened.[4][5] In 1999, United States operations recommenced.

In December 2015, the company acquired StudentUniverse[6] and a 70% stake in BYOjet.[7] Additionally, in 2016, the company began online travel brand Aunt Betty.[8] Together, BYOJet and Aunt Betty operate as "low cost" Australian online travel agents, providing flights and other services at lower prices than Flight Centre's retail locations.

In New Zealand, Flight Centre operates a number of brands including Cruiseabout, Student Flights, Travel Associates, FCM Travel Solutions, Corporate Traveller and Travel Money NZ. In 2017 it acquired Travel Managers Group and Executive Travel Group.[9]

Flight Centre was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw a 75% decline in the company's share price from January to March 2020,[10] cancellation of a previously announced dividend,[11] and a suspension in trading of shares from 23 March 2020 to 7 April 2020.[12][13] In early 2020, Flight Centre announced that 6,000 staff would be made redundant or placed on unpaid leave globally, due to the effects of international travel restrictions in the pandemic.[2] This included 3,800 staff in Australia. The New Zealand branch of the company made 250 employees redundant and temporarily closed 33 branches, out of a total of 1200 employees and 140 outlets around New Zealand.[14] Flight Centre was criticised for charging substantial "cancellation fees" when suppliers failed to provide travel services during the coronavirus pandemic, and later changed course following warnings and threats of legal action from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission[15] and consumers.[16][17]

Controversy

In 2016, Flight Centre UK was featured on Channel 4's Dispatches in an episode called 'The Truth About Cheap Flights'. Dispatches found alleged examples of undisclosed flight mark-ups, discriminatory pricing against elderly customers, not offering refunds for refundable flights, and seat-blocking.[18] While none of these practises were deemed illegal, Flight Centre received several instances of negative press surrounding the allegations.[19][20][21] Flight Centre's response was that the programme was 'not a fair reflection of our company culture or customer experience' and highlighted 'isolated behaviour that is against our company policies and ethics', promising to consequently deal with the highlighted issues.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Board Profiles". Flight Centre.
  2. ^ a b "Flight Centre to stand down thousands of workers due to coronavirus". ABC News. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Annual Reports". Flight Centre.
  4. ^ André Sammartino (2007), 'Retail’, in Dick, H. & Merrett, D. (eds.), The Internationalisation Strategies of Small-Country Firms: The Australian Experience of Globalisation, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, UK, pp.175–194.
  5. ^ "Canada". Flight Centre Travel Group Limited. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  6. ^ "StudentUniverse Acquired By Flight Centre Travel Group" (Press release). Business Wire. 21 December 2015.
  7. ^ "Flight Centre buys BYOjet.com". news.com.au. 21 December 2015.
  8. ^ "Flight Centre would like to introduce you to Aunt Betty | SMH". www.smh.com.au. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Flight Centre expands NZ operations". Stuff. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  10. ^ "Flight Centre Travel Group Limited Share Price & Information - ASX". ASX. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  11. ^ "Flight Centre Travel Group Cancels Interim Dividend" (PDF). ASX. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  12. ^ "Flight Centre Travel Group Limited (ASX: FLT) - Suspension from Official Quotation" (PDF). ASX. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Flight Centre Travel Group Limited (ASX: FLT) - Reinstatement to Official Quotation" (PDF). ASX. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  14. ^ "Flight Centre lays off staff as coronavirus bites". Stuff. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  15. ^ "Flight Centre to refund cancellation fees". ACCC. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  16. ^ "Flight Centre stops charging cancellation fees for trips affected by coronavirus after pressure from ACCC". ABC News. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  17. ^ "Flight Centre customers plan legal action". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  18. ^ "The Truth About Cheap Flights: Channel 4 Dispatches | Channel 4". www.channel4.com. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  19. ^ Okey, Regan (25 April 2016). "'Employees call their boss daddy' Flight Centre's scam tactics exposed". Dailystar.co.uk. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  20. ^ Wallop, Harry. "Six travel agent tricks to watch out for when you book". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  21. ^ Hope, Hannah (24 April 2016). "Major travel agent Flight Centre accused of cheating customers". mirror. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  22. ^ "Flight Centre refutes claims by Channel 4's Dispatches". www.travelmole.com. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
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