Fly Buys and Air New Zealand split ways
The two companies have been working together since 2010 and say they have decided to focus more on their respective loyalty programmes. With special feature audio.
Fly Buys customers will no longer receive Airpoints dollars starting in October because Loyalty NZ and Air New Zealand [NZX: AIR] have decided to part ways.
The two companies have been working together since 2010 and say they have decided to focus more on their own respective loyalty programmes.
Loyalty NZ chief executive Stephen England-Hall says the companies aren’t as aligned as they were six years ago.
“Fly Buys was launched as a loyalty programme allowing you to fly, hence the name. The change with Air New Zealand gives us an opportunity go back to our roots because we’ll be able to offer customers the choice of many airlines to fly with in the future,” he tells NBR.
Customers were able to use Airpoints or Fly Buys points in the loyalty programme.
Mr England-Hall says less than 10% of businesses and 15% of customers were earning Airpoints in the Fly Buys programme, so, “while it’s significant, it’s not the end of the world.”
Fly Buys will introduce a new proposition to the market in the coming months which will give customers the ability to earn and spend points and/or cash on all types of travel, including Air NZ, he says.
Air NZ general manager loyalty Mark Street says the national carrier wants to make it simpler for customers to earn Airpoints dollars at more retail and travel partners.
“The arrangement worked well for both organisations but has come to its natural end point in its current form,” he says.
“Over the past 18 months, we have been focused on expanding our own partner network to better meet the needs of our membership base.”
Fly Buys has 2.5 million customers, 74% of New Zealand households, and is quarter-owned each by Foodstuffs (New World), IAG (State Insurance), BNZ and Z Energy.
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Campbell Gibson
Thu, 01 Sep 2016
Thu, 01 Sep 2016
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Fly Buys and Air New Zealand split ways
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