The three major American airlines have escaped bankruptcy, despite the disastrous business figures for 2020. According to specialist Joe di Nardi, the reason for this is unusual: loyalty programs (loyalty cards that accumulate points for future trips or exchanges with other services). The three airlines have mortgaged their cards for amounts ranging from 6,500 to 9,000 million dollars. Experts say that without this money, United and American, the two weakest, today would have had to file bankruptcy.
Di Nardi participated in an event on loyalty programs, which are tremendously developed in the United States, where he forcefully stated that these programs are the explanation for the salvation, for the moment, of the airlines. He said that probably only the low cost Southwest would have been able to survive the current dire economic situation.
Loyalty program mortgages consist of loans obtained from companies and individuals in which the guarantee is the future income of these cards for which Americans are so inclined.
The loyalty cards of the American airlines are extended to the entire world of tourism, thanks to commercial programs. Cards are businesses in themselves. For example, staying in a hotel gives points on the airline card to later use those same points also in a hotel, which means that the airline is only the intermediary or the owner of the business.
Di Nardi notes that investors clearly believe in cards and think the business will continue to perform just as well in the future.
–
