The Brisbane travel company’s bottom line of a $47 million profit did not tell the whole story for the Flight Centre that had a near-death experience when Covid forced the closure of national and international borders for two years.

Chairman Gary Smith said so much had changed since Covid, the company could no longer be compared to the one that existed before the pandemic.

And co-founder and managing director Graham “Skroo” Turner said airfares were falling and would return to levels to not much more than 2019 levels.

He said pent-up demand was still evident with 2022 levels of outbound travel still half those of 2019.

About 2500 staff were employed last financial year and as many as 1000 this year.

The total transaction value in global leisure travel had soared 162 per cent to $10 billion. TTV is a measure of all revenue that passes through the company, including for things like hire cars and accommodation.

Thye underlying profit margins in leisure had increased beyond 2019 levels which led to a 207 per cent increase in underlying EBITDA.

The final dividend was 18 cents a share and the company said it would in the future return 50 to 60 per cent of profit in dividends or buybacks.

The company was anticipating near-term capacity increases among the major airlines and endorsed the bid by Qatar Airlines for more flights into Australia, which was rejected by the Federal Government to protect Qantas.

It said while revenue was increasing it was expected to remain below historic levels. It expected further growth in outbound travel as airfares became more affordable. Industry-wide, corporate travel was expected to exceed 2019 levels in 2024.

Flight Centre’s performance was boosted by surging demand for travel in the second half of the financial year.

Managing director Graham “Skroo” Turner said he was pleased to be reporting a stronger result after an incredibly challenging period.

“Our $485 million (underlying EBITDA) profit turnaround exceeded our initial expectations as our diverse global business benefitted from the removal of unprecedented restrictions that were imposed on travellers for some two and half years and from the strategies we implemented to preserve our key assets and ensure we emerged in a position of strength,” Turner said.

“Sales more than doubled group-wide as out leisure and corporate divisions both delivered more than $10 billion in total transaction value for the first time.

“Our transformed leisure business is also on a steep TTV recovery trajectory with several businesses including online and the independent agency network delivering record sales.”

Turner said the company was well placed for 2024 and had already seen TTV and profit growth in early trading.