Australia’s national carrier, Qantas, has partnered with department store David Jones to expand the reach of its Frequent Flyer program.
Key Takeaways
- Qantas has partnered with David Jones to enable shoppers to redeem either David Jones Rewards Points or Qantas Frequent Flyer Points when they purchase in-store or online.
- Qantas expects shopping at David Jones will unlock billions of points for members over the coming years.
- The David Jones mobile app will allow members to link their memberships and track their points balance.
- The Frequent Flyer program is one of Australia’s largest loyalty programs with over 17 million members.
What we know
David Jones shoppers will be able to earn and redeem either David Jones Rewards Points or Qantas Points, giving millions of Australians more choice every time they shop at the retailer’s 40 stores and online.
The David Jones app is set to become the central hub of the rewards program, where customers can link their memberships and track their points balance.
“The new David Jones Rewards program is a key initiative under our Vision 2025+ strategy, which delivers a solid runway towards future growth and, most importantly, will deliver millions of Australians more choice, more value, and more rewards,” Qantas Loyalty CEO, Andrew Glance, says.
Key background
Qantas launched its Frequent Flyer program back in 1987, and today it’s one of the country’s largest loyalty programs with more than 17 million members. Two-thirds of all Qantas Points are via financial services, retail transactions, insurance and health and wellbeing.
It’s big money for the airline, too: the Loyalty division delivered an underlying EBIT of $255 million for the half-year ending December 2024. Membership grew by 11% compared to the previous period and there was a 10% increase in points earned, driven by categories including retail. By contrast, Virgin Australia’s Velocity program delivered about $115.2 million (but that’s a sizeable chunk of the company’s overall $519 million in underlying earnings in 2024).
Big number
$1 billion. Indeed, Qantas expects to double its earnings from its Loyalty business to $1 billion a year by 2030.
Crucial quote
“The number of points members have earned through retailers has doubled in the last five years, and we anticipate it will double again by 2030, as we expand our footprint across a growing range of retail categories,” Qantas Loyalty CEO Andrew Glance said on Thursday.
Tangent
Virgin Australia is set to re-enter the ASX and looking to raise $685 million in its initial public offering. It’s set a price of $2.90 per share with 236.2 million shares on offer. That will value the company at $2.32 billion on a fully-diluted basis, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.
The new chief executive set out on a series of investor meetings earlier this year to promote the upcoming IPO, and in May, told eligible staff they’d receive a $3,000 ‘take-off grant’ in the relisting.
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