IAG Loyalty CEO Talks Avios’ Ambitions to Be a ‘Global Currency’

11.06.2024 - 22:13 / skift.com / Aer Lingus / Meghna Maharishi

IAG Loyalty, the frequent flyer program that operates Avios, is probably one of the most overarching programs in the airline industry — and it wants to continue expanding. 

While Avios houses IAG brands like British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus, the frequent flyer currency is beginning to partner with other airlines outside of IAG. So far, Avios has signed on Qatar Airways and Finnair. The program is also in talks with other carriers, IAG Loyalty CEO Adam Daniels told Skift. 

The loyalty program also reported a 17% increase in new members in 2023, translating roughly to 4.9 million customers. 

Skift spoke with Daniels about his ambitions for Avios and trends in frequent flyer programs as part of our Leaders of Travel: Skift C-Suite Series.

Skift: How has Avios been expanding and adding more partners to its program?

Daniels: If you think about our partners and our partnerships, we’ve probably added more big partners in the last three years than we have in the previous 10. And the likes of Uber, who are now part of our ecosystem and are issuing Avios. You’ve got a number of other financial services partners we introduced. Barclays as a partner a few years back, Caixa in Spain. So a lot of partners have joined the program in the last few years.

And why is that? I think the reason is because they’re recognizing the power of the currency and what it can do for their businesses as well as what it can do for their customers to be on it.

What happens is you get customers that will switch to the individual partner that we’re talking about because the other is a part of the Avios currency. And we also see that customers tend to spend more on average. So their basket size, if you like, is bigger and those customers stay with the brand moving forward. So you can demonstrate that. And we do demonstrate that to prospective partners. We’ve got a couple of partners in the wings, hopefully in the next couple of months that will keep growing on that side of the business. 

Skift: Could you tell me a little bit more about your ambitions to make Avios a global currency?

Daniels: It is very much one of our ambitions to make the currency global. And I choose my words carefully there. It is the currency we’re talking about. And we think we’re on the path to deliver that. We’ve obviously signed relationships with Qatar Airways. Then most recently, with Finnair as well. They’re the first two outside the family. 

The model is slightly different to probably other approaches historically in the travel sector and aviation. Because what we’re essentially doing in this model is that people can adopt the Avios currency and customers can move the currency between airlines.

So, [British Airways] Exec Club members redeeming Qatar