Flight Centre growth
Flight Centre is tackling a fastchanging industry head-on by expanding with an ambitious growth plan. The company is adding two businesses to its stable: Travel Managers Group (TMG), a leisurefocused group that supports more than 80 individual brokers and has a 22-shop franchise network (including 12 TravelSmart shops and 10 non-branded stores) and Executive Travel Group (ETG), New Zealand’s largest independent corporate travel management company.
‘‘Things are changing rapidly in our industry and these partnerships put us in parts of our industry that we know are rapid growth areas,’’ Flight Centre NZ managing director David Coombes said.
‘‘Brokers and independent agencies are a real growth area in the leisure sector and our corporate sector is also growing rapidly.’’
He did not disclose how much Flight Centre paid for the businesses, both of which were privately owned. Former Flight Centre employee Kevin Weston was a co-owner of ETG and a major shareholder in TMG. He, along with his business partners Nicola Jamieson and Dave Wallace, will continue to oversee both businesses’ day-to-day operations.
New Zealand is the Flight Centre group’s fifth largest business globally by sales, behind Australia, the USA, the UK and Canada.
It says the new businesses will take it close to becoming a $1.5 billion-peryear sales company during the 2018 fiscal year.
Coombes said the new partnership signals the start of an exciting growth phase for FCNZ.
‘‘We’ve been looking for a complimentary acquisition in the local market and I’m thrilled we’re taking this step with TMG and ETG. Both businesses have shown continued growth and are highly successful in their own right, bringing performance, reputation and expertise.
Such is the growth profile and success of these businesses they align well with our vision for FCNZ.
Flight Centre employs more than 1200 staff.