Breaking: Aeroplan charter flights to begin in July 2020

Aimia CEO, Jeremy Rabe has announced that Aeroplan will run daily charters to select routes, after the partnership with Air Canada terminates. Aeroplan charter flights would be dedicated flights flying Aeroplan redemption members.

Aeroplan Charter flights

Through its ‘Beginning of a new Aeroplan‘ campaign, Aeroplan promised increased flexibility and greater value for its members and the latest announcement of charter flights aligns with their commitment. Here is what we know so far;

• Aeroplan will run daily charters to select destinations
• Aimia is currently negotiating with airline partners for flights to sun destinations
• Aeroplan will introduce a points transfer program in 2020, to convert Aeroplan miles into ~20 airline loyalty miles across several alliances (think SPG, minus the conversion rate, thats still unknown).
• Mileage levels for round-trip redemption will continue to be as follows;

15,000 miles for North American short-haul
25,000 miles for North American long-haul
40,000 miles for Mexico and Caribbean
60,000 miles for Europe
75,000 miles for Asia

• Starting September 2018, Aeroplan will introduce a new online travel booking tool

Aeroplan Charter flights – Interesting unknowns

• Charter routes and destinations – I suspect it would be Sun destinations (AC Rouge routes), Major US gateways (NYC, Chicago etc.) and popular Canadian cities/segments (YYZ, YUL, YVR, YHZ, YYC, YOW etc.)
• All Economy or can we expect business class cabins as well? – Given that Aimia is negotiating for narrow body aircrafts, I suspect these will be on cabin configuration – Economy only.
• What livery will these charter flights have? – This bit is really interesting, it will be a major investment for Aimia to create Aeroplan livery (exterior and interior) and I doubt they will take that plunge right away. Aeroplan, in the past has run all redemption flights with AC and I would guess that they would start with a similar model. In that, the exterior will be based on partner flights while the interior (seats and amenities) will have Aeroplan branding.

Interesting move on Aimia’s part to announce Aeroplan charter flights. Big news to keep the membership engaged. For those still hoarding millions of Aeroplan points, this announcement should come as a welcome relief. However, those that are in the game for high end redemption, may still need to look elsewhere.

What is your take on the unknowns above? Share with a comment below.

My Source for the information above: Canadian Press/National Post