The frequent-flyer clubs of marquee Asian airlines including Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd and Singapore Airlines Ltd fell further behind those of US rivals during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the damage to the region from prolonged travel restrictions.
Led by Delta Air Lines Inc, loyalty divisions at the four major US airlines cemented their positions early this year as the world’s most valuable points programs, consultancy firm On Point Loyalty said in a report on Friday last week.
Apart from Southwest Airlines Co’s offering, the loyalty programs are worth more than the stock-market valuations of each of the US carriers, according to the estimated values in the report.
Photo: AFP
Loyalty divisions stood almost alone as revenue generating centers for airlines after the pandemic grounded fleets worldwide in early 2020.
The value of the units emerged as stressed carriers including Delta and United Airlines Holdings Inc laid down their points programs as security against billions of US dollars of loans and bonds to get through the COVID-19 crisis.
Airlines traditionally disclose few financial details of their loyalty programs — including their primary source of revenue, which is selling miles to banks that then use them to reward customer using credit cards.
The only European entries large enough to rank in the top 10 were groups spanning several airlines in different nations, such as British Airways parent IAG SA.
Asian airlines broadly fared worse in the report versus those elsewhere. China, which before the pandemic was the world’s largest outbound travel market, reopened its international border only last month after a years-long closure that decimated regional flying.
Separately, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Air France-KLM are in talks to buy bankrupt UK airline Flybe, the Telegraph reported, without saying where it obtained the information.
Lufthansa and Air France-KLM are considering an offer because they are interested in Flybe’s seven pairs of takeoff and landing slots at London Heathrow Airport and five pairs of slots at Schiphol in Amsterdam, the Telegraph said.
Flybe ceased operations last month, less than a year after the low-cost airline returned to the skies after an initial bankruptcy in 2020 triggered by the pandemic.
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