Australian travel firm Flight Centre Travel Group to open 24 flight shops by 2017

NEW DELHI: Flight Centre Travel Group, an Australian travel firm that operates retail travel outlets in several countries, plans to reach 10 Indian cities and increase its store count in the country to 36 in the next three years.

The company, which runs corporate travel arm FCm Travel Solutions and leisure travel company Flight Shop, will invest about Rs 20 crore to add 24 stores in India, a top official said.

"We have started our expansion with Delhi and will move to 10 cities in the next three years," said Rakshit Desai, MD of the company in India.

"The economics vary by market but we will spend anything between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 2 crore setting up each store," he said.

Desai said Flight Centre has a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore in India and employs more than 1,000 people. Globally, there are 2,500 Flight Shops across 11 countries.