Flight Centre US OTA push

FLIGHT Centre MD Graham Turner this morning confirmed the company’s online travel agency brands will enter the US market from next month through an expanded global agreement with Google Flights.

The company’s Jetmax OTA division was recently added to the Google Flights platform in the UK, Australia and NZ, meaning BYOjet and Aunt Betty are offered as booking options for local Google Flights search results.

The global pact with Google will allow the Flight Centre brands to “offer their discounted international airfares to travellers in large and potentially lucrative new markets globally,” Turner said during an investor presentation.

The update confirmed that Flight Centre was continuing to achieve its strategic goals despite the current subdued climate, including “maintaining key assets and investing in key growth drivers to win market share”.

Turner said several of the company’s businesses were now back in profit or approaching breakeven, with Flight Centre delivering “consistent revenue growth during the year, despite volatile conditions”.

He detailed a lengthy liquidity runway, with more than $1.3 billion in cash and investments, offset by $416 million in client funds owed to suppliers as at 30 Jun 2021, but also noted a hefty $66 million provision for doubtful debts including moneys owed by retail and corporate debtors as well as override debtors.

The potential easing of border restrictions across the globe is expected to boost sales, while in Australia there is now “light at the end of the lockdown tunnel” as governments flag quarantinefree travel to countries with high vaccination rates such as the UK, USA, Fiji, Japan and Singapore

- all top ten destinations for Australian travellers.

Turner also noted that the added complexity of travel in a post-COVID environment “plays to Flight Centre’s strengths”.