Here is the call for the sale of the Millemiglia program, at least 50 mln euros are needed
The commissioners who are managing the divestment of Alitalia, and everything outside the [...]
Alitalia
The commissioners who are handling the divestment of Alitalia, and everything that did not fit into the Perimeter of the new Alitalia or rather ITA Airways., have published the notice for the disposal of the program Millemiglia and everything related to it.
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The auction base to win control of Loyalty Spa has been set at 50-56 million of euros and the start of the first phase is scheduled from tomorrow to December 10. It is fair to mention that ITA Airways will not be allowed to participate in the tender, as imposed by the European Union during negotiations to rescue the Italian airline.
Contrary to Alitalia's record over all these years, the loyalty program has always had million-dollar profits, certainly not able to make up for the company's billion-dollar losses. The reason is simple and underlies all loyalty programs. Those who allow their customers to earn points, or in this case miles, buy them and then pay the company that sells them to disburse them to their customers. In the case of Alitalia this was done, for example, with American Express and AZ-branded cards, car rentals with Avis, or the many other partnerships that were active, such as with Coop supermarkets or hotel chains.
The approximately 6 million members could then increase their hoard not only by flying but also by everyday spending. It is obvious that in the pandemic phase this collection did not stop, indeed never before have frequent flyers around the world accumulated billions of points without being able to spend them.
But Loyalty spa has always been profitable, and today it has more than 30 mln euros in the till as well as all the data of those enrolled in the program. Data that could be of interest not only to an airline rival of ITA, but also and especially to Italian companies interested in getting their hands on a portfolio of potential customers to whom they can offer products of all kinds. According to Corriere's calculations, Lombardy is the region with the most members, just over 800,000. Another 448,000 are in Sicily, 220,000 in Puglia, just under half, about 2.6 million, are non-Italian members.
In recent weeks the program has not stopped allowing members to continue accumulating points, Take advantage of some benefits by flying with AF and KLM, and especially to use the points through the generation of vouchers to book trips with Lastminute. The latter solution did not fully satisfy Alitalia's orphans.
ITA Airways has certainly not been idle, unable to get his hands on the Millemiglia program, first launched the Flying Club and then offered the status match to all former Millemiglia members and more. Now we just have to see who will be awarded the MM program; there are also rumors of an interest from American Express, which was the main customer of the same program. We will see.
