Corporate Travel hired for Israel evacuation work

afr.com:

Corporate Travel Management is evacuating people from Israel under a contract with the UK government and private sector clients.

The repatriation deal was revealed at Brisbane-based Corporate Travel’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, and marks the latest in such work, which has included controversial housing of refugees on a UK barge.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip.  AP

Corporate Travel managing director Jamie Pherous was unable to divulge details of the Israel operation, but said it involved private organisations as well as UK citizens. Among challenges were finding planes to land in Israel, with conflict brewing in Gaza, he said.

“It’s not bread and butter stuff,” he told The Australian Financial Review. The company had also done repatriations for British citizens during the pandemic.

Mr Pherous brushed aside concerns about any reputational fallout from its work housing refugees on a utilitarian barge on England’s southern coast once cited as a possible “floating Grenfell”.

Corporate Travel chairman Ewen Crouch said asylum seekers had freedom of movement and their accommodation was audited, and Mr Pherous said it represented only a small portion of Corporate Travel’s $3.2 billion refugee program in the UK.

“We’re really comfortable with what we’re doing,” he said.

Corporate Travel also announced a $100 million share buyback on Wednesday, indicating a lower appetite for acquisitions for a company that forged its strategy buying smaller travel operators.

Mr Pherous said acquisitions were not a priority, with some potential targets having stocked up on debt during the pandemic. “It would be more like a turnaround job than an acquisition,” he said.

Mr Crouch did not rule out more such