Qantas Loyalty, a leading airline loyalty program owned by Qantas Airways Limited, announced today that it has selected Airwallex, a global fintech firm headquartered in Australia, to expand its financial services offerings, ‘Qantas Business Money’.
Powered by Airwallex’s technology, ‘Qantas Business Money’ platform will enable its merchants including Australian firms to do business with other global firms while allowing them to earn Qantas points.
Qantas Business Money would be available in the second quarter of this year to more than 350,000 small and medium size businesses (SMEs) who are Qantas Business Rewards members.
Through Qantas Business Money, businesses would be able to use virtual Visa Business Debit cards to enable payments in local currencies; instantly set up local business accounts in 11 currencies; and access highly competitive foreign exchange rates that are up to 70% less than the big banks.
Olivia Wirth, the CEO of Qantas Loyalty, stated that the partnership is important as it will help to diversify the Qantas Business Reward program’s financial services offer for its members. “Australia’s love of earning Qantas Points has seen us build strong partnerships with some of the country’s biggest brands, as well as some of the most innovative. These connections are key to keeping our members engaged in the program and ultimately drive value for our business,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jack Zhang, Airwallex's Co-founder and CEO, added: “We are proud to be Qantas Business Rewards’ technology partner of choice for its new and innovative offering, Qantas Business Money. We’re very excited to work together with one of the most iconic brands in Australia to continue to remove the constraints that Australian companies face in the current global financial system.”
Qantas Business Money is the latest financial services product set to be launched by Qantas Loyalty. It follows Qantas Travel Money, investment and wealth management solutions, home and personal loans, savings accounts and credits cards.
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Qantas Airways, which started its operations in 1935, still continues to provide domestic and international passenger flights.
The firm launched Qantas Loyalty as a subsidiary business to drive customer and partner loyalty through its Qantas Frequent Flyer and Qantas Business Rewards programs. Qantas Loyalty makes a lot of money by selling points to partners such as retailers, banks, merchants and others, so they can attract and reward their own customers, who are also Frequent Flyer members.
In March 2020, Qantas suspended about 60% of domestic flights, put two-thirds of its employees on leave, suspended all international flights and grounded more than 150 of its aircraft following imposed government travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
To survive the pandemic, Qantas cut several jobs to limit its financial losses and announced a plan to raise A$1.9 billion in new capital.
In November 2020, Qantas assumed flight operations but asked for proof of COVID-19 vaccination from international travellers. Furthermore, it requested all of its 22,000 employees to be fully vaccinated against the virus.
