QATAR LEADS WAY AS FLIGHT CENTRE TURNS CORNER

AFTER 24 months of straight losses global travel group Flight Centre started turning a profit in March, but it is still being impeded by a lack of staff in Australia, North America, New Zealand and the United Kingdom as well as the dearth of international carriers servicing Australian cities.

Assuming no more government imposed Covid restrictions managing director Graham Turner reckons it will be smooth sailing from here and he predicts airline capacity out of Australia will return to pre-covid levels by Christmas. “Australia has been pretty late coming back,” Mr Turner said on Wednesday.

At present Mr Turner said there were few carriers except for Qatar – which he expects will further increase capacity – operating at full or better than pre-covid capacity out of Australian cities at present.

“Qatar is higher than preCovid levels,” Mr Turner said, adding that its Middle Eastern rival Emirates is not even yet flying out of Adelaide.

Mr Turner said Australia lagged the rest of the world, except for Asia, with the return to international flying.

Travel group Flight Centre has turned a profit thanks in part to airlines such as Qatar returning to Australian airports after the relaxation of Covid restrictions. Picture: David Geraghty