The well known Australian travel agency, Flight Centre, have just recently seen their profits double following a very recent surge in demand from customers in its core domestic business. In a recent statement to different markets, the agency confirmed first half profits increased to $51.13 million for the six months to the end of December. This is up from the $26.6 million that it saw during the same time span in 2008.

Flight Centre says that cheap airfare is what is driving up its demand. The organization is seeing positive sales volumes in most markets. The Brisbane-based company has operations in the United States, the UK, China, India, Canada and Hong Kong.

The managing director for Flight Centre, Grahan Turner, said that certainly consumer confidence here rebounded much faster than in other markets. There was certainly some pent up demand when people deferred international travel on the last part of the cycle. The strong Australian dollar and certainly the outstanding deals have all contributed to a very strong Australian result.

The company has reaffirmed its guidance of full year pretax profit coming in between $160 million and $180 million. The Flight Center’s chief financial officer, Andrew Flannery, said that strong Australian demand has more than offset losses in the United States business and the weakness in the UK, Canada and New Zealand.

Flight Centre also went on to predict that airfares are set to increase in 2010 from the unsustainable levels seen a year earlier as the economy picks up. Flight Centre declared a dividend of 26 percent per share, which is up form the nine percent per share in the prior corresponding period.