Helloworld silent on Best Flights job cuts

Helloworld silent on Best Flights job cuts
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Helloworld – formerly Jetset Travelworld – has refused to confirm or deny reports that 40 Best Flights jobs have been axed as part of plans to scale back the business.

But the company did insist that Best Flights will remain an operational brand.

Speculation over the future of the Perth-based online retailer has been rampant in recent months, which has been further heightened by the job cuts.

Sources told Travel Today that 40 Best Flights staff were yesterday informed they were being made redundant and will finish at the end of January.

Helloworld, which has failed to publically provide clarity on the future role for the brand, issued a statement to Travel Today in which it refused to answer questions on the reported job losses.

“The Best Flights brand and operations are highly valued and integral to helloworld,” chief executive Rob Gurney said. “Following the launch of helloworld.com.au, which is powered by Orbitz, there has been an assessment of how best to amalgamate the operations of Best Flights into those of the other helloworld consumer offerings.

“In the future, experts from the Best Flights team, including cruise specialists, will continue to support helloworld.com.au.”

Helloworld declined to comment further although it later clarified that "it is not losing or closing down the Best Flights brand". 

Back in July JTG said Best Flights would “eventually be incorporated into the broader Helloworld digital platform”, raising the question of whether it would be swallowed by Helloworld and its strategic partnership with Orbitz.

Later, JTG said Best Flights “will continue to exist” while Gurney last month said it a “clear role for that business going forward”.

“When we’re ready to talk about that in detail, we will,” he said.

Best Flights, which is thought to have a turnover of $180 million and remains profitable, was founded by Gary Elliott in 2001 and became part of Jetset Travelworld in 2005.

Elliott left the company in 2008 only to return when Peter Lacaze was appointed JTG chief executive. But he quit again soon after the appointment of Rob Gurney in late 2012.

On its website, Best Flights says it employs 80 staff and claims it is the fifth most visited travel website in Australia.

In a separate development, the ASX code for the company will tomorrow change from JET to HLO.

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