Flight Centre offers round the world flights for $999

Flight Centre has taken airfare discounting to new heights, releasing an around-the-world economy fare for less than $1000.

Flight Centre general manager Tom Walley.

Flight Centre has taken airfare discounting to new heights, releasing an around-the-world economy fare for less than $1000, but the ASX-listed travel agency argues the record deal has nothing to do with the falling Australian dollar that sank to a two-year low of US71.57c earlier this week.

Flight Centre general manager Tom Walley said the $999 fare, which will be released today, is believed to be the cheapest around-the-world airfare Flight Centre had ever advertised and was being offered for less than the cost of a lead-in economy return fare to London from an Australian capital city.

“This fare represents incredible value and allows travellers to fly from Australia to Los Angeles, London and Hong Kong, before returning to Australia,” Mr Walley said.

The fare will be offered from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide on Virgin and Virgin Atlantic.

Flying high: current pricing - Flight centre

Flight Centre managing director and co-founder Graham Turner said airfares always seemed to defy the effects of inflation and prices had generally stayed at similar levels for many years.

“This has particularly been the case for London fares,” Mr Turner told The Australian.

“During the past two years we’ve seen a bit of price deflation, as a result of some excess capacity largely, and we’ve been able to advertise some of the cheapest deals we have ever seen,” he said.

“This is an example of it, as were the London fares we were offering recently for around the $1000-$1100 dollar mark. Historically, the best you could get was probably around the $1400 mark.”

Mr Turner claimed cheap fares like the $999 offer were a powerful lure for travellers and the savings more than made up for any concerns they may have about the Australian dollar’s performance against the US dollar and the euro.

He said the dollar tended to have more of an impact on traveller’s spending power at the destination and people would often make minor adjustments to their hotel accommodation to compensate.

Regardless of the level, travel to America and outbound travel overall has generally grown. “At the moment, it’s probably increasing around the 4-5 per cent mark per year,” Mr Turner said.

The $999 fare is available for various travel dates between February 25 and March 28 next year.