Flight Centre NZ is releasing a Captain’s Package to help Kiwis avoid travel chaos and have a trouble-free holiday.

Managing director, David Coombes says the travel rebound since borders reopened has been overwhelming. 

Travel has bounced back quicker than expected in New Zealand, says Flight Centre Travel Group’s New Zealand managing director, David Coombes, with the company already trading at over 60% of what they were selling pre-Covid, but with only 25% of the staff. 

The Board of Airline Representatives (BARNZ) says self-isolation requirements need to go as soon as possible, or some airlines will cut New Zealand from their routes for a third summer in a row.

‘The airlines have told me they want to fly here, but they need to know New Zealand is open to business. Leisure and business travellers will not come if they have to self-isolate for days – it’s a market killer,’ says Justin Tighe-Umbers, executive director of BARNZ.

Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG), has launched a new website that puts departed alumni front in line for roles when travel opens up again.    

Having lost many of its people during the Covid-19 pandemic through stand down and redundancy, the travel retailer is determined to stay connected to those reluctantly let go.   

The new website, Flighties Forever, will help the company continue to do that - allowing its people (past and present) to mark their place in the company’s history books, plus receive job alerts, access to company news and professional development tips.   

Jason Buckley is Flight Centre’s new general manager independent models.

Buckley has been a part of the travel industry for over 30 years. He has worked across retail, corporate and wholesale businesses and has experience in operations, marketing and product.

Most recently he has been the owner and operator of a number of Helloworld travel agencies and has served on the Franchise Relationship Committee, representing and supporting other business owners.

The Government will provide a consumer travel reimbursement scheme to assist the return of credits and refunds to New Zealand consumers via travel agents. In an announcement today, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi says the scheme will be funded to a maximum of $47.6 million.

Travel agencies will be paid 7.5% of the value of cash refunds and 5% of the value of credits successfully secured on behalf of customers.

Flight Centre Travel Group NZ currently has a greater emphasis on the short to medium term than the longer term vision – something that is unusual for the group, says managing director David Colombes.

The group has just released a case study entitled Our Business Journey Through Covid-19. In his summary, Coombes says ‘it is important to accept what we can’t influence and control, and focus on what we can, which is more restricted than ever before.

Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) released its year-end results on 27August for its 2020 Fiscal Year, which show an optimistic future for its corporate brands FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller despite a major downturn in the travel industry.

Whilst FCTG experienced severe losses (A$510M underlying loss before tax) due to unprecedented travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller proved to be resilient. During the global shutdown, the two business travel divisions landed a

House of Travel is providing clarity on its cancellation fees following Flight Centre’s recent announcement (see story below).

Flight Centre NZ says it has been forced to make some 250 roles redundant, given that all travel is now effectively off limits as the result of widespread border closures.