Total transaction value for Flight Centre Travel Group's global corporate business in its 2024 fiscal year increased 10% year over year, with small and midsized client wins a big part of its gains, the company reported.
Corporate business total transaction value for the fiscal year, which ended June 30, was about $8.2 billion, and the business has grown to 35% larger than it was in the pre-Covid 2019 fiscal year, according to the group. That comes as corporate activity has recovered only to about 80% of pre-pandemic levels, per Amadeus market data.
The company's corporate businesses, the SME-focused Corporate Traveler and the large-market-focused FCM, reported adding clients with a total of $1.4 billion in annual spend during the fiscal year, with the pendulum swinging to a larger share of SME wins by Corporate Traveler than in recent years. In the U.S., SME wins in the second half of the year were nearly double what they were in the first half of the year, which the company said was boosted by its new regional structure, with centers in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
The structure "has allowed us to better identify new opportunities throughout the country, as well as accelerate growth in our best performing sectors," Flight Centre Americas president Charlene Leiss said in a statement. "We are seeing exciting potential across the SME market in a number of different industries right now, including pharmaceutical, life sciences, finance and banking, technology, sports and entertainment and more."
Globally, corporate business transactions for Flight Centre were up 11% year over year during the 2024 fiscal year, and corporate business revenue increased 13.7% year to $750 million. FCM transaction volumes were up 10%, and Corporate Traveler had a "record profit globally," according to Flight Centre global corporate CEO Chris Galanty.
The company noted a "flat trading climate" in corporate travel for the later part of the year, with "minimal" volume growth in airfare sales in the second half of the year. However, it also noted that corporate travel transaction volumes globally were up 11% year over year in July.
Flight Centre managing director Graham Turner said the company is operating with "a substantially leaner workforce," with staff numbers for its corporate businesses 5% lower year over year as of June 30. That has come amid "strong productivity gains and the mass adoption" of FCM Platform and Corporate Traveler's Melon, according to the company. However, Turner also said that "staff retention has improved."
Flight Centre's corporate businesses reported a pre-tax profit of $143 million for the fiscal year, compared with $99 million for the 2023 fiscal year.
Source: Business Travel News