AccorHotels, Europe's largest hotelier, said it had abandoned plans to buy a minority stake in Air France-KLM, which has been hit by boardroom and staff unrest. While some investors said they saw sense in a tie-up between AccorHotels and Air France-KLM, notably through cooperation on loyalty programmes, others had questioned why Accor would need to buy a stake in the troubled airline. The airline has been hunting for a new boss to fill a gap left by the abrupt departure of CE Jean-Marc Janaillac in May, after staff rejected a pay proposal aimed at ending strikes that have resulted in heavy losses. Anne-Marie Couderc, the interim chairman of Air France-KLM, had also blamed AccorHotels for complicating and delaying the airline's search for a new CE. Last month, AccorHotels said it was looking at taking a minority stake in Air France-KLM to help it compete better against travel packages offered by online rivals such as Expedia and Booking.com. However, it said it had since decided to abandon that plan.<br/>
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Aimia received its second offer in two days from carriers wanting to take control of their own airline rewards plans from the global operator of loyalty programs. The company Thursday rejected an $180m bid from Grupo Aeromexico for a minority stake in the PLM Premier rewards plan operator, saying the offer is too low. The offer followed a proposal from Air Canada Wednesday to take back ownership of its Aeroplan program. The rapid succession of offers piles more pressure on Aimia to restructure its business amid investors’ calls for change, including new management and asset sales. Last year the company’s stock plunged 58% after Air Canada announced in May that it would break off its relationship with Aimia to run its own rewards program. In March, Aimia reached a settlement with U.S. activist investment firm Mittleman Brothers to have three new directors nominated to the company’s board. In April, CEO David Johnston agreed to step down, replaced by Jeremy Rabe, an industry veteran with a long history running loyalty programs.<br/>