Australia-based travel agency Flight Centre Travel Group reports that its global corporate business is on a positive trajectory and is targeting a return to profitability as soon as March of this year.
Reporting its half-year 2022 results, Flight Centre Travel Group says its corporate business – which includes the Corporate Traveller and FCM brands – increased more than 50% above January levels at mid-month February.
For the 2022 fiscal year first half, Flight Centre Travel Group’s corporate business contributed to roughly 60% of sales. Positive improvements were seen across all regions, with almost 150% total transaction value (TTV) growth in the period to AU$2.04 billion compared to the previous corresponding period.
“We are encouraged to see recovery across the global corporate sector shifting upwards, with client demand and bookings emphatically on the rise as more countries open their borders to international travelers once again,” says Flight Centre Corporate global CEO Chris Galanty.
“The improved performance of our FCM and Corporate Traveller businesses is indicative of renewed confidence in our reinvigorated products and services, and testament to the incredible resilience of our clients who are looking to make up for lost time and reconnect in real-life for successful business development in 2022.”
Galanty attributes Flight Centre Travel Group’s recovery and growth to its focus on technology.
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“We are proud of our reputation as a leader in the tech travel space, borne through a strategy of continuous development and complementary acquisitions. By providing our clients with powerful and intelligent tools, we are able to fully support their travel program aims in a post-COVID world as we forge a path back to business travel in the year ahead,” he says.
To boost its corporate travel product, the company has made a string of acquisitions and investments over the past few years: In August 2020, Flight Centre Travel Group acquired U.S.-based corporate travel technology provider WhereTo and the following December acquired software company Shep – one of PhocusWire’s Hot 25 Startups for 2019.
It also acquired mobile chatbot platform Sam and made an invest in air content aggregator TPConnects.
Flight Centre Travel Group says it will leverage its investments – particularly in WhereTo and Shep - to improve and introduce new capabilities to its proprietary platforms for both Corporate Traveller and FCM. The platforms, designed to enhance flexibility and improve the user experience, will roll out globally in 2022.