Flight Centre Travel Group (ASX:FLT) has released its half-year results to the Australian Securities Exchange. Please click here to view the full announcement.
FLT has achieved an AUD$117 million underlying profit before tax (UPBT) for the 2025 fiscal year first half - the result represents a seven per cent year-on-year growth.
The corporate business delivered a two per cent increase on its strong FY24 H1 Total Transaction Value result and a four per cent UPBT increase to AUD$96 million during a short-term period of consolidation while the business embedded Productive Operations initiatives to help unlock a new era of more profitable growth.
Comments by Charlene Leiss, Flight Centre Travel Group Regional Managing Director, Americas:
“Business travel continues to be a primary vehicle for growth and success for most corporations – it’s the key facet for prosperity across the Americas region and beyond. Corporate Traveler and FCM Travel are the gateways for businesses to thrive and expand.
“The outlook for corporate travel in the U.S. remains positive. Industry economists and consultants report an overarching favourable environment, even with some ongoing geopolitical and regulatory changes.
“This optimism is bolstered by increased momentum in FCM Travel and Corporate Traveller securing new accounts and the growth for our strategic verticals like FCM Meetings & Events and Corporate Traveller Stage, Screen & Sports.
“Our leisure division has also had a positive first half of the fiscal year, with Envoyage and Scott Dunn performing well, with the Envoyage USA team leading the way globally in new account generation. We’re confident in our balanced growth between corporate and leisure markets, and our rising market share overall since the post-COVID transition period.
“Thanks to our corporate ‘Grow to Win’ strategy, ‘Productive Operations’, and the growing influence of AI – we’ve also made solid productivity gains through the successful launch of Agent Workspace, enhanced utilization of the FCM and Melon platforms, and the implementation of AI-driven solutions.
“The impact of AI over the past few months has been a highlight. These tools have increased our productivity across marketing, communications, sales, technology and account management.
“But the one thing that’s still our clear differentiator is that our company remains very much led by its people. AI, for example, is the vehicle for increased output and better, more streamlined operations, but our people remain the driving force behind the wheel.”
Comments by Chris Galanty, Global Corporate CEO, Flight Centre Travel Group:
“The corporate pillar of Flight Centre Travel Group has once again achieved a record Total Transaction Value (TTV) of AUD$6 billion in the first half of the fiscal year, taking overall recovery versus pre-COVID to over 140 per cent, in a sector that has not yet returned to pre-pandemic activity levels.
“One of the key drivers of this is the significant investment in our Productive Operations initiative to enhance the customer experience to unlock a new era of profitable growth. This, combined with our leveraging of AI, will deliver a forecast 15-20 per cent of productivity gains between FY24 and FY26.
“With Productive Operations, we’re building a single global operating system for both of our flagship brands that drives every activity through the right channel. This will lower costs, grow income, and delight customers through personal service and automation.
“When it comes to AI, our global Center of Excellence continues to thrive and is at the very heart of the transformation we’re undertaking to automate the simple so that our people can do what they do best, offering excellent service before, during, and after a transaction.
“Looking ahead, we have a solid pipeline of new account wins coming on board to fuel future TTV growth, with over AUD$800 million worth of wins in the financial year to date with for FCM Travel.
“As for SME-specialist business Corporate Traveller, it has secured a large volume of smaller accounts, with our new client ‘stick rate’ aided by our rapid onboarding and follow-up.
“Our goal is for on-going growth and we’re doing this by successfully targeting specialist sectors, with Stage, Screen & Sports eyeing expansion opportunities under a new leader – with FCM Meetings & Events also having successfully re-launched globally, with further expansion coming soon.
“With Corporate Traveller’s Melon platform growing exponentially in the Northern Hemisphere, a continued increase of self-service through the FCM Platform and our investments in Productive Operations and AI, we’ll see even greater efficiency in the future.”