Flight Centre reviews pay, restructures sales roles

Flight Centre says it has reviewed incentive models and is making changes. Photo / Getty Images

Flight Centre says it’s overhauling the way its salespeople are paid as demand for travel surges after the peak of the pandemic.

The news arrived on a huge day for the airline industry, with Air New Zealand and Qantas reporting jumbo profits and bonuses for airline staff.

Flight Centre today said it had undergone a pay review with its salespeople.

Six roles have been disestablished, but Flight Centre said those six people had been offered alternative positions within the business.

A Flight Centre spokesman said operating models within the travel industry changed as borders had reopened.

“This review was undertaken to ensure that the brand has a sustainable business model into the future,” he added.

In a surprise move, former Flight Centre New Zealand managing director David Coombes announced he was taking redundancy in February. Photo / Greg Bowker

The Herald asked if consultants were being expected to take a pay cut, or how exactly pay was changing.

Flight Centre said it operated on a commission sales-based incentive, in addition to a retainer.

The company said through an annual review it had changed the way the tiers were structured “to ensure we drive value for our customers and recognise the right behaviours”.

In some cases, an individual’s pay might decrease if they did not achieve the right incentive targets.

“There has been no change to the retainer or any minimum guaranteed earnings,” the Flight Centre spokesman said.

He said an analysis of incentive models had shown the new model was offering consultants a fair and attractive wage and was aligned with market benchmarks.

“Our people are extremely important to us at Flight Centre - we work hard to provide them with competitive remuneration, health and wellbeing benefits, access to career growth opportunities and industry benefits, as well as a fun work environment,” Flight Centre added.

Flight Centre said it was not looking to close any stores, and in fact, the opposite was true.

“Flight Centre is actively looking to recruit sales staff and expanding its store network in the next 12 months.”

The Herald last year reported Flight Centre was building staff back up from a pandemic low of 400 towards 450. It had about 1200 staff before Covid and the accompanying travel restrictions arrived in early 2020.

Flight Centre NZ managing director Dave Coombes took redundancy this year as the company restructured its executive roles.

Today, Qantas posted its first full-year surplus since before the Covid pandemic, reporting underlying profit before tax of A$2.47 billion ($2.7b) and statutory after-tax profit of A$1.74b ($1.887b).

Qantas earmarked about A$340 million ($368.8m) in bonuses for more than 21,000 employees.

And Air New Zealand made a spectacular turnaround since last year’s dismal result, posting a full-year underlying profit today of $585m.

Most of Air New Zealand’s 11,500 staff who were employed before the end of December 2022 will get a $1950 bonus before tax.

John Weekes is online business editor. He has covered courts, politics, crime and consumer affairs. He rejoined the Herald in 2020, previously working at Stuff and News Regional, Australia.