Air Canada CE says airline is only realistic bidder for Aeroplan

Air Canada CE Calin Rovinescu defended the airline’s offer to buy back the Aeroplan loyalty program it spun off more than a decade ago, saying it’s the only bid that will relieve Aeroplan owner Aimia of the C$2b liability represented by the points members have in the plan. Rovinescu made his comments 2 days after Air Canada went public with an offer of $250m for Aeroplan. The consortium making the bid includes existing Aeroplan bank partners Toronto Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as well as Visa Canada Corp. The choice for Aimia’s board, he noted, is to “reject this proposal and adopt a go-it-alone strategy for Aeroplan, maintaining the $2b liability without Air Canada as a redemption partner, or accept our consortium proposal, which looks after all their stakeholders.” <br/>