Flight Centre’s new UK managing director aims to increase the agency’s retail estate by four or five shops a year over the next three years, with a new store set to open in Horsham, West Sussex, in May or June and another in London’s Mayfair slated for July.
Lucy Clifton, who was previously Flight Centre’s UK general manager and has worked for the company for 11 years, said she is committed to continuing a strategy put in place with predecessor Liz Mathews, who is leaving to become vice-president of Virgin Atlantic Holidays.
This includes rebuilding the company’s retail footprint after it was slashed during the pandemic, with plans to grow from 13 shops currently to 30 across the country. The agency reopened its Bath agency this week.
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“We had plans in place to reduce our retail estate (from about 80), and that process was accelerated by the pandemic,” she said. “Our network is currently smaller than we would like as a result, but we are looking at careful regrowth in the right locations.
“We have a hit list including places where we flourished before the pandemic and others where we feel there are opportunities.
“We will open four or five shops a year, but we are not obsessing over the timescales as we want to ensure the locations are correct.”
Another focus for Clifton is recruitment across the company’s leisure arm, including the ongoing return and retraining of previous staff – known as ‘alumni’ – alongside new starters.
The agency’s leisure workforce currently stands at 180 people, and Clifton aims to increase that number to 220 by the end of June as a strong post-pandemic rebound continues.
She also intends to continue development of Flight Centre’s specialist divisions, including those specialising in first and business-class bookings, complex air itineraries and group travel, which she said were “going great guns”.
Clifton confirmed there were no immediate plans to appoint a new UK general manager in her place, adding: “I have been in the role since the start of the year as Liz had a pre-planned sabbatical. I am currently enjoying both the strategic and operational elements.”
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