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INFO ON: | FLIGHTCENTER.COM.AU | FlightCentre.com.au | Flightcenter.com | Flightcenter.ca

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Info on: FlightCenter.com.au and FlightCentre.com au
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FlightCenter.com.au and FlightCentre.com au
are websites of the Flight Centre Limited of Australia. FlightCentre.ca is the Canadian site.

Flight Centre Limited (ASX:FLT) is Australia's largest travel agent. It is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of $1.145 billion as at March 2006. It has 1000 stores in eight different countries with over 8000 staff.

FlightCentre.com.au was founded by Graham Turner in 1981. Turner had previously run a successful budget bus trip company in Europe called Topdeck.

Turner retains 18% of Flight Center. By 1990, Flight Centre had opened stores in New Zealand, the UK and US. The UK and US offices were closed in 1991 in the face of the Gulf War. Expansion began again with a move to South Africa in 1994, Canada in early 1995, and the UK later that year. US operations recommenced in late 1999 It has been claimed that

"Flight Centre revolutionised the retailing of international air-travel in Australia by shifting to a model where profitability was driven by volume rather than margins. Initially they built a price advantage by bypassing ticketing wholesalers, seeking out less well-known airlines, and also by arbitraging ticket price differentials across markets."

The company grew rapidly, establishing different brands to cater for different parts of the travel market. It owns FCm Travel Solutions for the corporate market, Student Flights, Overseas Working Holidays for the student market and also runs related businesses in the discount holiday organiser Escape Travel, travelthere.com, quickbeds.com, luxury holiday company Travel Associates, retail cruise specialist Cruiseabout and Campus Travel aimed at the academic and university markets.

Its website flightcentre.com has been the most popular Australian travel agency website for several years. It has operations in Australia ($4.4 billion 2004/5 sales), New Zealand ($639 million 2004/5 total transactions), South Africa ($365 million 2004/5 total transactions), United Kingdom ($909 million 2004/5 total transactions), United States ($65 million 2004/5 total transactions) and Canada ($415 million 2004/5 total transactions).

The company faces serious challenges, with disintermediation occurring in the travel industry. In 2006, Qantas announced that it would no longer pay base commissions to travel agents for domestic and New Zealand flights and that it would reduce international commissions from 7% to 5%. An increasing number of customers are following the lead of many of Flight Centre's suppliers and dealing with them directly through their own websites rather than going through travel agents. Some financial analysts are very concerned about this, with one issuing a sell recommendation on the stock in a report titled Flightless Centre.
 

INFO ON: | FLIGHTCENTER.COM.AU | FlightCentre.com.au | Flightcenter.com | Flightcenter.ca