Flight Centre chief pledges to take Iglu ‘up to the next step’

The Flight Centre Travel Group has pledged to empower its newly acquired team at Iglu to treat the business “like their own” as they help to expand the agency globally.

 

The Australian-based travel company announced on Wednesday (December 10) that it has acquired the British online ski and cruise specialist in a £100 million deal.

 

The agency now forms part of Flight Centre’s global leisure division under its chief executive James Kavanagh, with Iglu chief executive David Gooch continuing to lead the business in the UK.

 

Kavanagh told a Travel Weekly webcast: “We’ve learned over time about what works and what doesn’t with any acquisition.

 

“There’s a reason why we bought Iglu. There is a lot of great capability with a lot of great assets…so our approach is very much around integrate as little as possible and as much as necessary to actually create mutual value.

 

More: Iglu boss outlines global ambitions following £100m Flight Centre deal

 

Iglu acquired for £100m by Flight Centre Travel Group

 

“We have a philosophy in the Flight Centre Travel Group called ownership, and we want to empower many people in the business to treat the business like their own.

 

“When we met with the [Iglu] management team, we could really see that they have a vested interest in making it a success.

 

“We want to make sure that the Iglu team feel very empowered to grow the business.”

 

He pointed to another UK acquisition, Scott Dunn, as an example, noting how the deals can enhance the benefits of both companies.

 

“We find there are certain things that we learn from any acquisition,” he said.

 

“It is not a one-way, top-down takeover to control the business.

 

“Our job is to take Iglu up to the next step on the ladder.”

 

He said the deal also offers more career pathways for staff because the travel group has a wide range of brands.

 

Gooch said messages he has received from staff are “universally positive”, adding: “A number of our staff already knew people from the Flight Centre world, or even worked in the Flight Centre group at some point.

 

“One of the big positives is we have very similar cultures. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we are very ambitious.

 

“It is a nice meeting of two quite like-minded businesses, without there being too much change for people on a day-to-day basis.”

 

Kavanagh highlighted opportunities for Flight Centre’s retail chain and home-based agents in the UK, telling the webcast: “Flight Centre is an air-led brand, which creates opportunity for Iglu to latch onto that and vice versa.

 

“Flight Centre is not very strong in the cruise space, but it’s been growing, quite interestingly, in that space, so [there is] a great opportunity to use Iglu’s capability and lift the category overall.”

 

Gooch also highlighted how he had received “positive” messages from suppliers about the takeover.

 

“There has been real positivity about the collaboration; Flight Centre’s reputation is really good one in the market as well,” he said.

 

“Back to cultural fit, we’re not in the market of trying to get the most out of suppliers at whatever the cost – it is about mutually creating value all-round.

 

“The fact that we’re getting bigger, and we can expand that and potentially help some of our partners with their strategies and their expansion desires, that’s a win-win for everyone.”