Special report: Sustainability charity The Travel Foundation has changed its Continued from page 48


broken up, are valued at £5 billion. Analysts view the airline as having a strong balance sheet, on course to increase profits and worth more than £5.5 billion. But easyJet’s share price,


which has long lagged Ryanair’s, plunged 30% on the outbreak of the US war on Iran. Though it closed at £6.10 on Monday, 80% up on its low point in May, shareholders could be forgiven for being drawn to Castlelake’s offer. A difficulty is that a deal would


need to comply with EU rules that European airlines be at least 51% owned in Europe. That is a significant hurdle which the US fund suggests it would meet by including EU nationals Peter Bellew and Mark Breen as investors. Bellew, former Ryanair chief


operating officer, held a similar role at easyJet in 2020-22. He is now managing partner of an investment platform focused on AI in aviation. Breen is chief executive of Dublin-based consultancy Oneiros Aerospace and previously held roles at airlines in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Philippines. The pair appear unlikely to


be able to invest more than half the £5.5 billion-plus needed to complete the deal, suggesting Castlelake has other investors in mind and/or plans a debt- funded (leveraged) buyout. The easyJet board previously


queried the “ownership structure and deliverability” Castlelake proposed. These queries remain despite Castlelake claiming it is “confident” regulatory approval would be “swift”. Clearly, Castlelake would aim


to extract more profit to recoup its investment. What that might mean for the airline, easyJet holidays, workforce, passengers and trade relations we can only guess for now.


Travel Forward rebrand aims to emphasise action


The Travel Foundation has grown over almost three decades from a UK charity set up by a small group of tour operators into an organisation with global recognition. Yet in late April it changed its name to Travel Forward. Chief executive Jeremy Sampson


explains: “We were set up to be like a foundation but were no longer operating like a foundation. “We regularly get calls asking for money and it makes you think, ‘What do people assume we are?’ A foundation has a connotation of distributing wealth and that is not what we’re doing. That felt like a disconnect. We need to be funded to do our work. We looked for a new name to embody who we are. The minute we saw Travel Forward, we said ‘that is the one’. “Being a foundation is sort of


stable, and maybe in the early years it was important to communicate stability. But now there is way too much urgency and need for action. “What we are now is a vehicle


to move forward – not just to talk, not just to recognise the problem, not just to challenge, but to be solution-oriented, to demonstrate what action looks like.” He adds: “No one can do these


things on their own, especially the way this industry is structured. There is lots happening, a lot of people working hard, but there aren’t enough people working together. “The only way to move forward


is through collective action, and Travel Forward is a vehicle – part of the infrastructure to facilitate that collective action. We’re in a unique position to be that vehicle. We’ve leaned in on the independence we’ve earned as an organisation.”


46 9 JULY 2026


Jeremy Sampson


is a distinct difference with this membership. There is no governance. It’s not an association. You don’t need to become a member to work with us. “We’re simply creating value


out of the sense of community, content and connections. We’re not representing members. They won’t have undue influence on our decision-making. “Partly, there are business


reasons to do this – we need to fund our work. So, we’ve created the structure to do that. But one of the key differentiators of this network is that there will be destinations and businesses together. “Another is that we’ll be


Sampson points out: “When I


arrived [in 2019], we were primarily funded by Tui. Nothing against Tui [but] it was not a sustainable model. We now have something like 80 funding sources. Our biggest funder Expedia is no more than 25% of our budget. I say this because independence is important to help move things forward. There needs to be an organisation that isn’t mired in politics or in its members’ needs. “We think we’ve earned that role.


We’re much more visible globally than we’ve ever been. The goal is to be known and trusted so that we can lead. The community we’ve built, the convening power, is remarkable for a small team. We know who we’re able to bring to the table.”


Platform for action The launch of a platform for members, Travel Forward Connect, has followed. Sampson acknowledges: “There are lots of membership organisations – hotels get together, tour operators get together, destinations get together. But there


action-oriented. It has to be a vehicle There will be opportunities for members to work together on pilot projects that move the needle on key issues, and they will be able to influence the agenda.” Sampson argues: “This industry


knows how to collaborate. But when it comes to the challenges, there is no mechanism [for collaborating]. Destinations and businesses don’t have counterparts they can go to and work on their climate plans, work on visitor management. Everything is [about] demand. “This is about destinations


and the supply chain. We’re not working with businesses on every aspect of how they make things more sustainable for travellers. We’re working on the supply chain and the shared challenge and opportunity that comes with sharing places and sharing suppliers.” Membership rates will be


tiered and “pretty affordable”, he says, with companies able to sponsor destinations to join “if they don’t have the bandwidth”.


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