This week, MARK HARADA swapped the Karryon pink for the famous Flight Centre Brand red for FCB’s biannual 2025 Global Leaders event in Sydney. Here’s how he saw his first Flightie conference, reporting exclusively for Karryon.
It’s 8.30am and I’m amidst a sea of red. If it weren’t for the venue – a swish Sydney hotel – you’d think it were a football match (the Swans would fit in nicely). The energy is about the same, too: camaraderie, a palpable sense of excitement ahead of kick-off, and an air of uncertainty about what’s to come.
Nearly 600 Flight Centre leaders from hundreds of shopfronts globally spanning five continents (making the noise of nearly twice that): this is the scale that Flight Centre Brand (FCB) brings to its biannual Global Leaders Conference, held for the second time in Sydney.
I’ve attended countless travel industry conferences and events over the years, but I’m not sure I’ve experienced this.
It isn’t Global Gathering, where Flight Centre Travel Group’s (FCTG) all-stars convene annually for (almost) unrestrained celebrations; nor is it as boisterous as Flichella – both of these events attract literally thousands of pumped-up participants.
But for a significantly smaller group, this Global Leaders conference still packs a serious punch – in work and play, where the lines at Flight Centre are so often blurred (perhaps one of the reasons Flighties excel in the trade of leisure).
It’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement of it all too – even as an impartial observer. From engaging speakers (like Olympic champion Noemi Fox) and partner activations to dance floor moments and even lip-sync challenges, this conference is loud – literally and otherwise.
Fortune favours the brave… and bold
The Global Leaders Conference is themed “Bold and Brave”. There’s a difference between the two. An act of bravery is more reactionary, and it’s easier (though certainly not easy) to react to circumstances and events as they unfold – the travel industry has had a lot of experience there.
But Flight Centre isn’t content to just be brave. Acting with boldness, it wants to be a risk-taker. Calculated risks are in the business’s DNA – starting with Flight Centre Founder Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner’s first foray into travel with Topdeck more than 50 years ago, and even within the brand’s own rebelliousness. The business knows there’s no greater danger than standing still, even if you’re already one of the world’s largest and most successful travel agency groups.
How will it be bold? By further embracing AI and NDC, both of which represent opportunities for travel advisors, not a death knell, according to the group. And that’s just the start.
Moving market
In the two years since its last Global Leaders conference in Brisbane (its first post-COVID), things have changed.
Flight Centre, like much of the travel industry, experienced record levels of revenue, thanks largely to “revenge” travel. Although some in the sector believe this is still motivating many holidays, the reality is that business has softened for much of the industry as the post-pandemic “honeymoon” period comes to a close. Hence the need to act swiftly… and boldly.
This is where events like the Global Leaders conference come into play, as they form the connections and collaborations that facilitate growth.
Speaking at the two-day event, Flight Centre Global Managing Director Andrew Stark reflects on the “purple patch of unprecedented demand” that came (and went) during that period.
“We didn’t have to spend money on marketing. There was no real cost. We had a lot of customers queuing out our doors,” he tells guests in his opening address.
“And then there was a period last year, around August, September, where it completely slowed.”
How does FCB aim to return to those halcyon days? Firstly, by focusing on “profitability per booking”.
“Our economic engine has to be profitability per booking,” Stark said.
“Our net margins in the brand are wafer-thin. We have to make sure we keep a very guarded eye on making sure that our profitability per booking across the different channels works.”
And those channels are growing in number.
“We’ve got a network of shopfronts, online, app, store, social very soon, but we have to be more. All of our channels have to be open, generally, 24/7 these days to win more customers,” he adds.
In addition, the FCB boss tells leaders that the brand has to change its behaviour around email enquiries and work on “instant response” to customers.
“We have to love email enquiry. We’ll do a lot of groundwork for you, and then we’ll pass on the lead, once it’s really, really hot, to a skilled individual based on a new workday platform that will come… so we can connect the customer to the right skill instantaneously,” he notes.
“We’ll get to a world where we’ll start… creating appointments with the customer at certain hours. We’ll get to a world where we’ll actually trade, generally… 24/7, with human beings as well, which will be exciting.”
Elsewhere, Stark says team members must focus on winning back “individual bookings, and that can be individual insurance, individual hotels… but more importantly, airlines direct.”
Culture of personality
In an organisation spanning more than 3,000 advisors in 450 locations across five continents, it’d be easy for the FCB culture to become diluted. Based on the community, connection and celebration (with a dash of irreverence) I’ve seen, however, it appears as steadfast as ever.
“Our fun and savvy culture, you cannot take away from us. That’s the 43-year history; that’s the next 43 years. We create the culture. This is the leadership team for the iconic brand of Flight Centre,” Stark tells delegates.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast. If we have a great culture, our strategy will automatically flow.”
Along with the fun factor, that culture includes an almost horizontal stance on leadership, which feeds into a word thrown about a lot during the conference: egalitarianism.
Skroo’s take
Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) Founder and Managing Director Graham Skroo Turner, a man who continued to fly economy well after his pockets deepened, says that a company must still “live by its core values” while evolving.
“Our core values are egalitarian, ownership and irreverence… and we do the irreverence pretty well,” he tells me in an interview at the conference. And that’s clear this week, as I hear the mantra of taking your work seriously but not yourself, on multiple occasions.
“But things like COVID change how we can handle ownership. And when we came up with the egalitarian thing, we were all pretty much the same age. That’s changed a bit now, so keeping egalitarianism… it’s not that easy. But I don’t think we do a bad job.”
Based on my recent experience of sitting next to a Flight Centre Travel Group senior leader in economy – on a long-haul flight – I’d agree.
Recruitment, rewards, retention
On recruitment, Andrew Stark says the brand takes a holistic approach, valuing “tech smart” and travel-savvy newcomers.
“Life experiences are important, and people who are well travelled… very important when you recruit,” Stark says.
He also flags the importance of self-learning (like LinkedIn Learning) and self-development as well as accreditation programs.
In return, Flight Centre can offer an “exciting global career” and team member rewards – mainly based around its ‘Wise’ schemes – Moneywise, Travelwise, Healthwise – and the Flight Centre Foundation.
Perhaps that’s why the business is retaining 73% of its staff, just shy of its target 75% rate.
The brand is even bringing back its Business Ownership Scheme (BOS), which earns a big cheer among those at the conference. BOS allows team leaders to invest in the stores they manage; in other words, to take more ownership of outcome-based incentives – a core part of Flight Centre’s philosophy of treating every business as our own.
If that happens, you can expect that retention rate to rise even further. And conferences like this to grow even bigger… and louder.
The 2025 Flight Centre Global Leaders Conference took place at the Hyatt Regency Sydney.
Stay tuned for more from the event, where Karryon is providing exclusive media coverage.
For more information on the Flight Centre brand, click here.
