Flight Center cuts 160 more jobs and closes 23 more stores

Flight Center will cut 160 jobs and close 23 stores in addition to the heavy cuts earlier this year.

The travel agency says most of the job losses would come from its retail division and would follow some 600 people across the group who have been laid off or voluntarily abandoned since the pandemic broke out.

Flight Center had 1,200 employees and more than 130 stores at the beginning of the year. It announced the closure of 58 stores in April.

David Coombes, managing director of Flight Center NZ, said the restructuring decision was incredibly difficult.

“We are discouraged to again downsize our team and say goodbye to a large number of talented and passionate people in our business. Our people are the core of who we are, so this is of course heartbreaking,” he said.

Staff were offered, and a number accepted, voluntary layoff. Those people could access the government’s Covid aid payment. Those who wanted to stay in business were offered a position.

Coombes said Flight Center would survive.

“As borders remain closed, we have been forced to make this difficult decision to ensure our business remains viable, protecting our customers’ refunds and credits, and then opening the world to kiwis when border restrictions are lifted.” He said.

Travel restrictions have practically stopped Kiwis from traveling abroad and, although the company handles some domestic corporate reservations, they are a small proportion of the company’s revenue.

The global travel group reported a net loss of A $ 662 million (A $ 718 million) for the 12 months to June 30, compared with a gain of A $ 264 million the previous year. It was his first loss since he was listed on the Australian stock market 25 years ago. Figures for New Zealand are not broken down.

The group, however, has A $ 1.1 billion in available liquidity, driven in April by a capital raising of A $ 700 million and debt of A $ 200 million.

Store closures reduced outlets in Australia from roughly 900 to 520, and worldwide from 1,500 to 800.

The company has received more than 11 million dollars in the three sections of the wage subsidy in this country.

To assist the staff who left the firm here, Flight Center established Project Remedy to help provide supplemental income to those financially affected.

The firm has worked with more than 200 companies in New Zealand, obtaining roles and distributing these opportunities to all affected Flight Center personnel.

The impact of Covid-19 had been sudden and dramatic, Coombes said in an internal document on the company’s experience managing it.

“Our goal shifted from mitigation and protection measures to survival mode. Survival required bold, extreme, and often impossible decisions, made at a pace that we had never operated before.”

It is now part of a government plan to recover more than $ 600 million that Kiwis have spent on trips abroad. Agents will be paid a commission on the sums they recover.