Flight Centre’s latest moves point to a quiet but deliberate return to ownership. Within a week, the company has backed a branded venture for Travel Associates’ Ben Monaghan and revived Cruiseabout’s Business Ownership Scheme, signalling a renewed push towards equity-style incentives for top performers.
At the same time, in Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner’s podcast Beyond Horizon Three, Flight Centre’s founding figures revisited a pivotal moment in the company’s history – when splitting the business into units and handing equity to leaders helped pull Top Deck back from the brink of insolvency.
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So is Flight Centre quietly returning to its ownership roots?
In an exclusive interview with Travel Weekly, founder Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner said the answer is nuanced.
“We have started it back in certain areas, but it’s not widespread yet.”
Ownership has long been part of Flight Centre’s DNA. In the early years, equity participation was widespread, with Turner noting that “nearly every shop that we opened from 1982 through to 1990 we actually had equity owners in them,” typically holding between 15 and 25 per cent stakes.
Over time, that model evolved into a more structured Business Ownership Scheme, which Turner said “generally mirrors what ownership would give,” without requiring the same equity structure used in the early years.
But the model didn’t just fade – it was effectively shut down during COVID-19.
“Covid basically put an end to that, because people just couldn’t afford to fund that sort of ownership,” Turner said.
Now, as the business rebuilds profitability, ownership is quietly being reintroduced – but in a far more targeted way.
Rather than a company-wide rollout, Turner said access is selective and tied to performance.
“It’s people who have shown that they’re the people who can make things work. So it’s good for them, and it’s good for the company.”
“We call it a privilege, not a right… people need to get invited to be able to contribute to a business ownership scheme.”
That means the model is most likely to appear in entrepreneurial, leader-led parts of the business – such as Travel Associates and Cruiseabout – rather than across the entire network.
“It doesn’t apply in all our businesses… particularly in corporate… it doesn’t fit so well,” Turner added.
What remains unchanged, however, is the philosophy behind it.
“One of our basic beliefs is that people who are running businesses should have equity in it… and putting their own money in to a certain extent, and getting the benefits from it.”
While not a full-scale return, the recent moves suggest ownership is no longer just part of Flight Centre’s past – but a targeted strategy shaping its next phase of growth.
