Royal Air Maroc and
IAG have signed a MoU to implement Avios as the airline’s loyalty currency.
p9 on the Avios Investor seminar sheet (see link) reveals some interesting info:
>
IAG holds a 4% market share of the international African market
> Avios in partnership
with Royal Air Maroc will increase this to 14%, surpassing that of Air France-KLM
> Our biggest airline (BA) offers 10 African cities
> The
IAG airline number of cities served in Africa is 20
> Now incorporating our airline partners brings the number of Avios cities to 46
> Avios customer base in Africa stands at over 350k, from a base of 100k
This is a huge boost to the Avios program and at the same time will open up RAM to a wide range of
FF travellers.
This confirms once again that RAM & One World could prove to be most compatible, which will be most beneficial for both parties when compared to the remaining 2x alliances *A (already plenty of carriers in Africa) & Skyteam (AFKLM would oppose any strong African carrier as it would pose to much of a threat;
AF &
AT serve a lot of the same destinations and they would overlap. This could turn out to be the answer One World has been waiting for giving that they have a very weak African coverage compared to *A and Skyteam, especially now that
IB has announced to suspend service to Accra & Lagos.
Some indications so far that confirm RAM's preference towards the One World alliance:
- RAM &
IB have already been for some time code share partners for Morocco - Spain traffic.
-
IB Avios miles can already be redeemed on RAM flights, the same goes for Safar Flyer miles (RAM FFP) on
IB flights.
- RAM &
QR have a
JV in place for Morocco-Qatar traffic as well as linking Africa-Asia.
- The latest signing to become Avios partner.
Rumors so far of
QR wanting to purchase a stake in RAM (not holding my breath for this one to be honest.)
http://loyaltylobby.com/2016/04/11/r...latform-as-their-loyalty-currency/
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External...VHlwZT0z&t=1&cb=635959587461578780
http://www.qatarairways.com/ae/en/offers/air-maroc-partnership.page[Edited 2016-04-22 04:52:09][Edited 2016-04-22 04:54:40]