Flight Centre to close more stores

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/flight-centre-to-close-another-90-stores-around-australia-amid-covid19-pandemic/news-story/d59b072f68fa6965039d1021dcf69811

After already closing more than 300 Flight Centre stores operated around Australia pre-Covid, the travel agency is set to shut down another 91 shop fronts amid the ongoing pandemic.

Citing the “continued domestic and international border closures” as the cause of the cuts, it is understood permanent staff numbers will be slashed and other shop fronts to stay in hibernation.

Following the latest round of closures, a spokesperson for Flight Centre said they will retain 332 shop fronts in Australia, and about 60 of these shops are likely to remain closed and in hibernation for the next six to twelve months.

In a statement provided to news.com.au, the latest cost cutting measures will mean 4,000 people in total would have been made redundant across the company during the pandemic.

“Without question, the past six months have been the most challenging period in our almost 40 years in business,” Flight Centre’s managing director James Kavanagh said.

“Never before had we imagined – let alone faced – a scenario whereby all discretionary travel would be halted for a prolonged period.

“Fortunately, we took steps early to secure our long-term future and to ensure we could survive for an extended period in a very low revenue environment, although we have still been forced to make some very tough decisions.

”We are incredibly sorry that some of our great people are not able to continue on their Flight Centre journey with us at this time but we are taking steps to preserve as many roles as possible for the future, while building a smaller but stronger overall network.

”Flight Centre will retain 332 shop fronts in Australia, about 60 of these shops are likely to remain closed and in hibernation for the next six to twelve months while heavy travel restrictions are in place.

Flight Centre announced in August the group had reported a loss of $662m, down from a profit of $264m the previous year.

In April, the ailing travel announced they would permanently close 40 per cent of its Australian stores by the end of July as the economic fallout from the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time, Managing director Graham Turner said the coronavirus had sparked the worst crisis to hit the business in decades.

“It is, without question, the most challenging period we have encountered in over 30 years in business and it is inevitable that some businesses across our industry will fail, given the significant loss of revenue that they will be experiencing now and for at least the next few months,” Mr Turner said.