Charlene Leiss, President at
Flight Centre Travel Group, The Americas
Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) posted a loss of AUD$510 million (CA$485 million) for its 2020 Fiscal Year due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the loss, Flight Centre says it remains optimistic about its corporate brands FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller, which both landed a record amount of new business and a pipeline of potential opportunities.
"Although the pandemic created an exceptionally challenging environment, our leadership team made tough, strategic decisions on a global level at the onset of the pandemic to preserve the longevity of FCTG and ensure its ability to endure unprecedented losses over the last five months. The sacrifices that were made, as well the dedication and agility of our talented team of professionals enabled us to persevere and position ourselves well for recovery," said Charlene Leiss, President of Flight Centre Travel Group Americas.
FCM Travel Solutions, which has a presence in 97 countries, won new business globally with total projected annual spend (pre-COVID) of US$1.3 billion (CA$1.7 billion), thus consolidating its position in the top three global travel management companies and increasing market share, its parent company said in a news release.
FCM’s new accounts include multinational and national large enterprise corporations and government agencies.
"Together these wins strengthen an already diverse global customer base, which includes a solid portfolio of companies in mining, energy and construction that continued to book essential travel throughout the crisis. About 25% of FCM’s total transaction value (TTV) currently comes from government, mining/resources and health/pharma sectors," according to FCTG.
Meanwhile Corporate Traveller, which provides travel management services to SME companies, secured US$400 million (CA$525 million) worth of new business globally. Corporate Traveller operates in the USA, Canada, UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India.
FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller both recorded strong first-half growth and saw a profit before tax of roughly AUD$65 million (CA$61 million) during fiscal year 2020, FCTG says.
Anna Kroupina Journalist
Anna is OJ's newest member and she joins the team as a writer/reporter. She co-writes the daily news and covers events. Although she's new to the industry, pursuing a career path in travel/tourism has been a goal since her first family road trip to the Florida Keys sparked a desire to discover the world and this exhilarating, fast-paced industry.
