Citibank announced the exit of its 12-year-old co-branded card partnership with Jet Airways on Tuesday even as it launched an airline agnostic credit card.
The foreign bank cited changing consumer preferences for ending the partnership with Jet. The bank's co-branded partnerships with Shoppers Stop and Indian Oil Corp, however, stay intact.
Jet Airways and Citibank will continue to support all Jet Airways Citibank credit card features until July 15.
The new Citibank PremierMiles Credit Card will earn and redeem miles across seven domestic and over 100 international airlines, the bank said.
“With fragmentation in the aviation industry, there is a significant increase in the domestic traffic vis-à-vis international traffic. Also, consumer preference has shifted to low cost airlines and spontaneous travel has increased,” Mr Anand Selvakesari, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citi India said.
Low-cost carriers (LCCs) account for about 50 per cent of the total air travel in the country as on 2011, Mr. Selvakesari added.
The existing Citibank Jet Airways customers will be given a choice to transfer to Citibank's new card programme with privileges, including a special 10,000 bonus miles free credit to their PremierMiles account.
Jet Airways plans
Jet Airways is planning to introduce a JetPrivilege programme with its co-branded credit card. “JetPrivilege will enable its members to earn and redeem JPMiles to over 600 worldwide destinations,” a Jet Airways spokesperson said.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.