AEROPLAN…. AC’s Ace up the sleeve .. Billions more!While the analysts keep anal-ysing the positives around current demand supply in Canada air travel.. all good and supportive, AC has intelligently decided to no longer provide welfare support domestic travel options. Let the ULCs duke it out and the Liberal government can provide more welfare checks to support their free loading voter-clients. AC has other fish to fry.
But what most analysts haven't yet really clued in on is the asset value of Aeroplan. 7 million households in Canada and US. Heading to 9 million. Unlike the US airlines AC has never pledged its Aeroplan program to borrow money or issue bonds. It remains UNENCUMBERED. This will be the biggest positive surprise eventually to reward shareholders. At some point a net present value will be assigned. AC has played pretty coy so far. It is the ACE up the sleeve that Mike Rousseau is saving for later. The value is most likely over $8B, definitely much more than AC's current market cap. Watch how this plays out. Institutional buy side analysts are not stupid. GLTA