Kenya Airways announced details about its new frequent flyer program called “Asante Rewards” and no longer will be using Air France – KLM’s Flying Blue program.
Kenya Airways New Astante Rewards Program
Asante, meaning “thank you” in Swahili will be Kenya Airways’ first-ever its own frequent flyer program. Kenya Airways did not have its own frequent flyer program up until now because the airline was using Air France – KLMs Flying Blue program due to its close partnership and joint venture. However, during the pandemic, the partnership ended and the airline needed to create its own program.
The airline promotes this new program as “Africa’s most-awaited loyalty program,” which is quite interesting because I think there is no other airline launching a new program.
Details Of Kenya Airways Astante Program
Kenya Airways did not announce in-depth detail of the new program but based on the website, here are some details about the new program. The program comes with four tiers:
- Ruby
- Silver (SkyTeam Elite)
- Gold (SkyTeam Elite Plus)
- Platinum (SkyTeam Elite Plus)
The Ruby tier will be achieved upon registration as the base status. To earn Silver and above tiers, here are the requirements:
- Silver: Earn 20,000 points or fly 15 sectors on KQ / SkyTeam partners
- Gold: Earn 40,000 points or fly 30 sectors on KQ / SkyTeam partners
- Platinum: Earn 65,000 points or fly 60 sectors on KQ / SkyTeam partners
Points can be earned based on the destination, class of travel and fare class so I believe it will be using a distance-based earning rate. Elite benefits will be similar to all other SkyTeam programs.
Kenya Airways is a member of SkyTeam so if you are an elite from the partner program, you will be entitled to receive SkyPriority benefits too.
Award redemption is still not available for any redemption but the airline stated that passengers will be able to redeem points starting October 2023. We would need to see how the redemption chart will look but domestic routes will start from 7,000 points one-way while international starts from 9,000 points.
Summary
Kenya Airways has launched its new frequent flyer program called “Asante Rewards” after the airline ended its partnership with Air France – KLM’s Flying Blue program.
Since the program is newly created, there has not been much information about the details and we would need to wait some time. However, I think in terms of elite benefit-wise, it would be similar to other SkyTeam programs offered by partners.
