Atle Skalleberg Appointed Chief Digital Officer of Flight Centre Travel Group

Flight Centre Adds Digital Commerce Team in Boston to Improve Digital Customer Experiences

StudentUniverse, a Flight Centre Travel Group company and the world’s leading travel booking service for students and youth, today announced that its Managing Director, Atle Skalleberg, has been appointed to global Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of Flight Centre Travel Group (ASX: FLT), effective immediately.

As CDO, Atle will play a central role in setting the strategy and improving the group's digital commerce capabilities - including its online presence, user experiences and booking services - to help Flight Centre become the global leader in blending offline and online travel services, to cater to the demands of tech-savvy leisure travelers. To achieve this, teams in Boston and Brisbane will provide e-commerce, mobile development, online marketing and business intelligence services to Flight Centre’s leisure brands globally. Leading this initiative from Boston will provide Flight Centre access to top talent, a world-class high tech community and StudentUniverse’s technical teams.

“Having a global digital leader is an important step to ensure that we are able to develop and execute on a clear digital commerce strategy, build a world class team and drive the digital transformation that will propel online and mobile services as part of our blended travel strategy,” said Graham Turner, CEO, Flight Centre Travel Group. “The StudentUniverse acquisition became a catalyst for digital change management and we feel confident that Atle’s competencies make him the right leader for the teams that will continue our digital transformation. We are perfectly positioned to be the global leader in providing seamlessly blended offline and online shopping experiences that allow customers to transact or interact with us by the channel of their choice.”

Atle will continue to work closely with the executive team at StudentUniverse to manage and grow the business globally and will report to Dean Smith, president of FCTG Americas.

About Flight Centre Travel Group

Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) (ASX: FLT) has grown to be one of the world’s largest travel agency groups since its founding in 1982. Headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, the company has more than 30 brands in its portfolio (including the iconic Liberty Travel, GOGO Vacations and StudentUniverse in the US), 18 office locations across the U.S., 3,000 businesses worldwide and employs more than 19,000 people.

After starting as a leisure travel agency, the company is now also one of the world's largest corporate travel managers through a network of specialist brands that includes FCm, Corporate Traveller, cievents, Campus Travel, 4th Dimension and Stage & Screen.

About StudentUniverse

StudentUniverse is the world’s leading travel booking service for students and youth. It offers exclusive pricing and terms on flights, hotels and tours through contracts with dozens of world-class partners and more than 75 airlines. Its Travel Services division handles client requests for groups and custom itineraries.

StudentUniverse launched in 2000 and was acquired by Flight Centre Travel Group in 2015. StudentUniverse is headquartered in Boston with offices in London, Toronto, New York and the Philippines. StudentUniverse believes that travel is essential to a modern education. Millions of students use the service every year. For updates on StudentUniverse, follow our corporate Twitter and blog.

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StudentUniverseDanielle Dougan, [phone]PR [e-mail]