Aug 7, 2018
‘It’s survival’: Aeroplan’s parent partners with Air Transat, Flair
Aimia Inc. has struck two more Aeroplan partnership deals – this time with Air Transat and Flair Airlines – as it continues to play the field.
The partnerships, announced Tuesday, come just days after Montreal-based Aimia said it is teaming up with Porter Airlines. All three partnerships will take effect in July 2020, after Aimia’s partnership with Air Canada ends.
Aimia also said last week it was in talks with Oneworld airline alliance, whose members include Air Canada rivals like British Airways and Cathay Pacific.
"This is an exciting step toward our goal of providing Aeroplan members with great value when both earning and redeeming miles on travel bookings to popular holiday and transatlantic destinations," said Jeremy Rabe, Aimia’s chief executive officer, in a release referring to the Air Transat deal.
Air Transat’s chief distribution officer Joseph Adamo said in a release the airline is “thrilled” about the agreement and looks forward to partnering with Aeroplan.
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Rabe said Aimia’s partnership with low-cost carrier Flair will give members “exceptional value for popular Western Canada routes.”
“Aimia’s doing whatever it has to,” said Kash Pashootan, CEO and chief investment officer of First Avenue Investment Counsel, in an interview with BNN Bloomberg. “It’s the name of the game – it’s survival. And they’re forming these partnerships to really replace that large client, being Air Canada, that’s going to part ways in 2020.”
Aimia’s partnerships come on the heels of a recent attempt by an Air Canada-led consortium to buy its Aeroplan program. The airline, along with Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Visa Canada Corp., offered to purchase Aeroplan from Aimia on July 25 for $250 million in cash.
Aimia rejected the group’s original offer on the Aug. 2 deadline, as well as a sweetened $325-million bid, and said it counter-proposed $450 million.
The Aeroplan parent’s top shareholder, Mittleman Brothers, applauded Aimia’s decision to reject the offer in a 3,000-word open letter Monday, calling Air Canada’s bid "blatantly inadequate."
