Banking on the
Frequent Flyer — August 2020

While revenues have disappeared in the Covid-19 crisis, airlines have been on the hunt for emergency liquidity, and some of the largest have found innovative assets to act as security for the vast loans they need.

In June, American announced that it would pledge its AAdvantage frequent flyer loyalty programme as collateral for a $4.75bn loan from the US government as part of the CARES Act measures, citing third-party appraisals of the FFP of between $19.5bn and $31.5bn.