Aug 03 2018

When Air Canada announced that it would drop Aeroplan and start a new frequent flyer program, Aimia (the company that owns the Aeroplan) saw its stock fall from about CAD$8.80 down to as low as about CAD$1.50 per share.

Activist shareholders replaced Aimia’s leadership, and they quickly announced aggressive plans to offer a competitive program that might continue to be attractive to customers. That gave the stock a bit of a bounce. But when Air Canada made their offer to buy the Aeroplan program from Aimia, Aimia’s stock shot up.

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Aug 02 2018

Air Canada spun off its frequent flyer program Aeroplan into a separate company. Aimia owns Aeroplan along with other loyalty programs including a 49% stake in Aeromexico’s Club Premier.

Last year Air Canada announced they weren’t going to renew their exclusive partnership with Aeroplan after their 15 year deal expires at the end of June 2020. Now Aeroplan is confirming partnership discussions with oneworld .

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Jul 25 2018

Air Canada along with Aeroplan’s financial partners has made an offer to buy Aeroplan, the spun-off frequent flyer program with which Air Canada has an exclusive agreement through June 2020.

The market seems to like this deal, or at least believes that the move signifies some deal will occur at a price premium over prior-day trading.

Aeroplan has now issued its response.

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Jul 25 2018

This morning I wrote that Air Canada made an offer to buy Aeroplan at a $2.25 billion valuation.

Aeroplan was spun off from Air Canada 13 years ago. It’s a separate, independent business that’s part of Aimia, a loyalty company which several other interests as well. Air Canada announced last year that they were going to start their own program and no longer work with Aeroplan.

Here’s more on what the proposed deal for Air Canada to re-acquire the Aeroplan program would look like.

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Jul 20 2018

I spoke with Jeremy Rabe, the new CEO of Aeroplan’s parent company Aimia, about what changes to expect for premium cabin awards, fees and surcharges, and what transfer rates they’ll offer for points moved to other frequent flyer programs.

He also shared reactions to selling points cheap (he’s a board member of LifeMiles) and the future of spinning off frequent flyer programs given Air Canada’s breakup with Aeroplan and the air berlin topbonus bankruptcy.

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