WORDS GARY NOAKES
INTERVIEW
MISSION IMPECCABLE I
As it celebrates its 40th anniversary, Key Travel’s chief executive, Saad Hammad explains why he wants the TMC to be the most-loved on the planet
N COMMON WITH several former prime ministers, Saad Hammad studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford, but he has no desire to run the country – instead he’s doing his bit to change the world by running Key Travel. Two years into the role of group chief executive, he’s evangelical about the TMC’s mission statement, to “manage travel complexity and expense for the humanitarian, faith and education sectors, maximising the impact of those who do good in the world”. “It’s a company with real purpose,” he enthuses. “It’s a very energising purpose to have.” Hammad’s other travel roles have been at Flybe and easyJet, and he sees similarities with the airline and TMC world: “You’re faced with the same external forces as an airline; both rely on people, technology and operational excellence, but the clear difference is that airlines are capital intensive; a TMC’s biggest asset is its intellectual expertise.” Key Travel marks its 40th anniversary this year. It’s based in London’s King’s Cross, a few streets from the church whose missionaries to Kampala became its first customers. Hammad reels off some stats; not sales but the 261 million children not attending
a
school, for example. “Every £100 we save our customers provides medicine for more than 320 children with pneumonia. This is big stuff ,” he says.
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IF YOUR CUSTOMERS LOVE YOU, THEY STAY WITH YOU
Apart from reducing its clients’ travel costs, Key Travel’s other mission is to provide 24/7 back-up – the company claims to have pioneered GPS client tracking, a big value-add given the remote corners of the world in which its customers work.
BALANCING ACT
Surely though, the current “flight shaming” environment poses a special threat to Key Travel – its clients would be among the first to consider whether a journey is necessary? “One could argue that travelling to do good is the highest form of essential travel,” he
y
says. “But, of course, others would say there are just as important reasons to travel in the corporate and leisure worlds. To me, the key is to ask what’s the least environmentally damaging way to deliver my goals and if I have to travel, do I have access to mechanisms to offset the carbon footprint?” Becoming carbon neutral is part of a five-year vision – the company is aiming “to be the most-loved TMC on the planet”. “If your customers love you, they stay with you,” he says. Hammad adds that Key Travel’s backers, Elysian Capital, which bought it in May 2018, “are committed to this vision” and will “reinvest every cent” to fund further good. That’sat’ not something you associate with investment firms, but Hammad insists: “They are very ethically minded; what attracted them was our ‘profit with a purpose’.”
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A 2017 plan was to double the size of Key Travel, both organically and through acquisi- tion. With Elysian’s backing, it did this with the purchase of Netherlands-based Raptim Humanitarian Travel in 2018, growing the European business eight-fold and “doubling our top line in North America”. Hammad says the company is now “close to US$500 million in transaction value” and plans to double again in the next four or five years. Any further purchases will be similar businesses; with Hammad emphatic that
isi- m ng
specialisation is the way ahead for TMCs. “We will be a consolidator in our own space. To be viable as an intermediary, TMCs need to consolidate economies of scope, rather than sector-agnostic economies of scale. The era of generalist TMCs, I think, is over.” He hints there is something on the horizon: “In the next 12 months, watch this space, we are definitely on the look-out.”
buyingbusinesstravel.com 2020 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 57
PROFILE Saad Hammad joined Key Travel as
chief executive in November 2017. He is also non-executive director at start-up airline Canada Jetlines. He was previously chief
executive at Flybe, from 2013 to 2016, and held prior roles at Gores, easyJet, Tibbett & Britten and Proctor & Gamble.
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