The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price travelled 45% higher in the first quarter of FY22. The positive shift comes as the long-awaited travel agenda comes back to Australian lives.
At the end of Wednesday's market session, Flight Centre shares closed at $22 apiece.
Travel plans restart
While overseas holidays are expected to soon be a reality, the Flight Centre share price has taken off in recent times.
Clearer visibility surrounding the resumption of travel has led the company to target a return in leisure and corporate profitability. In particular, sales revenue increased month-on-month in the United States buoyed by a return to normal life.
Corporate transaction numbers were at 50% of pre-COVID levels, representing around 40% of Flight Centre's total transaction value (TTV).
In addition, accelerated vaccination programs have resulted in restrictions being either relaxed or removed in key travel markets. This gives more freedoms to passengers who wish to travel internationally.
As more countries are accepting to live with the virus, a number of international routes are restarting. Australia is set to open up to selected counties from November onwards, with destinations including the United Kingdom and the United States. Other countries such as Fiji, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and others are anticipated to be available at a later date.
Late last month, Flight Centre managing director, James Kavanagh highlighted the light at the end of the tunnel is getting nearer. He said:
The first day after Qantas's announcement regarding international flight coming back, we saw a dramatic spike in both bookings and searches – with locations ranging from Los Angeles to Delhi – and over a quarter of these bookings were for business travel.
Flight Centre share price snapshot
Up until late August, Flight Centre shares were trading mostly sideways. However, since then, its shares have skyrocketed almost 60% in less than 2 months. When looking at the larger picture, the company's share price is up around 40% for the calendar year.
Flight Centre has an attractive price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 7.07 and commands a market capitalisation of roughly $4.49 billion.
