Flight Centre still in decline

FLIGHT Centre will close 90 stores in another blow to the struggling Queensland tourism company.

The Brisbane-based company will be left with 332 surviving retail outlets, down from 740 across Australia before COVID-19.

“About 60 of these shops are likely to remain closed (hibernation) for the next six to 12 months while heavy travel restrictions are in place,” the company said in a statement.

Flight Centre CEO Graham Turner has repeatedly called for state governments to open borders, declaring Australians must learn to live with the virus.

“These shops are expected to reopen when governments lift these restrictions and as travel reawakens,” he said.

The company did not reveal what stores would close, but it is expected that hundreds of workers will lose their jobs as a result. In its annual report released yesterday, Flight Centre said 70 per cent of its 20,000 global workforce had either been stood down or made redundant since the onset of the health crisis.

Flight Centre forecasts it will receive $70m to $80m from Jobkeeper payments from July through to the end of March as support for its Australia-based workforce.

Flight Centre has issued $800m refunds to Australian consumers and more than $1bn across its global network as of last month. In August the company posted a full-year statutory loss of $849m before tax, compared to a $343.5m profit the previous year.

Mr Turner insists the travel group is well positioned to grow its share of the market when travel demand returns.

“Flight Centre believes demand for international travel, which is the leisure business’s primary revenue source, will not fully recover before FY23 or FY24 in the absence of an effective vaccine,” Mr Turner said.

Flight Centre said it expected to see gradual sales growth once travel bubbles and aviation corridors were established between countries. Flight Centre shares rose 2.8 per cent to $14.16 yesterday.