The Aeroplan partnership dance keeps getting more interesting every day. Now they've got both Transat and Flair as partners.

Aeroplan’s parent company, Montreal-based Aimia Inc., took many observers by surprise last Friday when it announced a partnership with Porter Airlines. Air Canada and three partners – Visa, TD and CIBC – had revealed a takeover bid for Aeroplan a few days prior to that, and many travel experts thought Aeroplan would accept the offer.

Aimia, however, rejected the Air Canada consortium offer and then announced the Porter deal. Turns out they were just getting warmed up, as Tuesday morning, fresh off the August long weekend, Aeroplan announced partnerships with both Air Transat and then upstart Flair Airlines.

The two deals gives Aeroplan customers much better flight coverage in Canada than they had last week, but it’s still not as strong as what Air Canada would’ve provided. Still, Aeroplan can now boast of having deals to have Porter, Transat and Flair on board by July 2020, when Air Canada is slated to leave the popular loyalty/rewards program.

The biggest change for most Canadians is probably the Transat partnership, which means travellers in Canada will be able to fly within the country on Air Transat, and also fly to popular sun destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico, as well as to Transat destinations in Europe.

Transat already has a deal in place with the popular Air Miles program, said Joseph Adamo, president Transat Distribution Canada Inc.

“The proposed Air Transat-Aeroplan partnership would be for our flights and holiday packages,” Adamo said in an email to TravelPulse Canada. “This would in no way alter the longstanding and very successful association between our travel agency network Transat Distribution Canada (TDC) and Air Miles, with which we remain wholeheartedly engaged.

“Our Air Miles program operates the same way today. The difference will be that, effective in July 2020, Aeroplan members will earn Aeroplan points when they buy Air Transat flights and packages. They will also be able to redeem their Aeroplan miles for our products.”

That’s pretty sweet if you’re a Transat customer. It’s also a good deal for Aeroplan, as are the Flair Airlines and Porter deals.

Where this leaves Air Canada is unclear. Aimia officials have said they’re open to having new talks with Air Canada, despite having rejected their offer last Thursday.

It appears Aeroplan/Aimia also might still consummate a deal with the OneWorld Alliance, which includes American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Iberia, Qantas and others.

“This is an exciting step toward our goal of providing Aeroplan Members with great value when both earning and redeeming miles on travel bookings to popular holiday and transatlantic destinations,” Aimia CEO Jeremy Rabe said in a release Tuesday.

“Our passengers will now be rewarded for their loyalty with the ability to earn and redeem Aeroplan Miles for flights,” said Flair CEO Jim Scott. “This partnership strengthens our value proposition, giving more people the ability to fly to their preferred destination.”

“We are thrilled about this agreement in principle,” said Transat’s Adamo.