Key Travel says it will be “business as usual” at the travel management company following the acquisition by Trip.com Group in the UK.
The TMC, which specialises in humanitarian, faith and academic travel, will become part of Trip.Biz, the business travel unit of Trip.com, which is also the parent company of Ctrip, Skyscanner and Qunar.
The Key Travel name will be retained, along with “the same leadership team, the same core values and the same commitment to delivering exceptional service for those who travel to do good”.
“What will change is the scale of resources, technology, and innovation we can now draw on, enabling us to enhance our service, develop new solutions, and support customers’ travel needs even more effectively,” said a statement from Key Travel.
Trip.com said the acquisition will accelerate its market presence in the EMEA region and was “a strategic move to solve for the most demanding needs of the non-profit sector: getting relief teams to and out of remote and often volatile locations, which mean bookings require flexible tickets, access to obscure routes, and the ability to make last-minute changes due to shifting on-ground conditions”.
Key Travel’s US business has been purchased by Globespan Travel Management, which has a global head office in Toronto and a US headquarters in Los Angeles.
Globespan will retain the Key Travel brand name in the US “for the foreseeable future”.
“We are very much looking forward to working together with Trip.Biz and Globespan to leverage our combined strengths and drive big success in winning and retaining clients,” said Key Travel.
Mike Schields, Managing Director of Key Travel US, said: “This partnership with Globespan Travel Management is a natural progression for our US business. Their leadership, technology, and service philosophy align closely with our own.
“We are excited for the opportunity to evolve within a company that understands the unique needs of our clients and is committed to supporting them with world-class solutions.”
Key Travel was founded by two Uganda-based Gujarati Indian brothers who settled in the UK when Idi Amin expelled the Indian population from Uganda in 1972.
Despite the struggles of being refugees, the brothers were determined to rebuild their lives and established Key Travel in the 1980s after graduating from university with little money.
Focussing on travel to Africa, a geography they knew well, the first customer was a missionary from the Methodist church, who then recommended them to fellow churchgoers who introduced them to other missionary contacts.
Saad Hammad joined Key Travel as Group CEO in November 2017. He was previously Group CEO of Flybe and Chief Commercial Officer at easyJet.
Hammad said: “Everyone at Key Travel is excited to be part of the Trip.Biz family. My team and I are looking forward to drawing on the scale of resources, technology and innovation that this partnership with Trip.Biz brings. It will enable us to enhance our service, develop new solutions and support customers’ travel needs even more effectively.”
