Flight
Centre Travel Group is to merge its Flight Centre Business Travel (FCBT) and Corporate
Traveller SME operations in three countries: the UK, South Africa and Canada.
Corporate
Traveller was launched in the UK in 1999 and has around 2,500 SME customers with
an annual business travel spend of £50,000 to £4 million. Corporate Traveller
has 240 staff at 15 locations nationwide. FCBT was established in 2005
and has around 2,000 SME customers ranging from individual business owners to
larger companies who typically spend £50,000 to £1 million per annum on
corporate travel. It has 135 employees in operations, account management and
sales who will transition to Corporate Traveller.
Steve
Norris, managing director EMEA, Flight Centre Travel Group, said, “It made
business sense to bring these two brands together so that we can focus on
investing in our overall SME offering collectively to enrich the customer
experience, as well as retain and grow market share in the post-Covid era.”
Andy
Hegley, UK general manager Corporate Traveller added: “This new direction means
that former FCBT customers will have access to innovative new technology that
is being developed by Corporate Traveller, but they will still receive the same
personal service from their usual FCBT travel expert.”
Customers handled by FCBT in Ireland will be managed by Flight Centre’s global
travel management company, FCM in Dublin. FCBT continues to operate in
Australia and New Zealand.