It's been exactly a month since Kenya Airways announced its new loyalty program, Asante Rewards. Simple Flying had the chance to speak to Julius Thairu, Chief Customer & Commercial Officer at Kenya Airways, about what the future will look like and the first steps in the public rollout. Membership will be key, and Thairu is hoping some of the airline's most loyal customers will try out, and stick to, Asante.

Existing members welcome

For nearly two decades, Kenya Airways customers were invited to make their loyalty accounts at Air France-KLM's Flying Blue, one of the many agreements under their joint venture. However, as that deal wound down, the carrier decided it was time to regionalize its loyalty scheme and reward members closer to home. But there's no point in creating all this infrastructure if you can't get the high spenders over.

Thairu noted that the status match is only available to those who joined Flying Blue through Kenya Airways, so Asante is not competing with the program. Alliances avoid trying to poach members from their own ranks, but since Asante is new, Flying Blue customers have the chance to join two programs at the same elite level.

Photo: Antonio Salaverry | Shutterstock

Thairu emphasized that this offer is only for those who joined through Kenya Airways and have a majority of their flying with the carrier in the region. Notably, these members will be status matched instantly and be given a lower tier threshold to renew their status for the next year as well. You also will not lose your Flying Blue status, the same as any match offer.

Details being sketched out

Asante Rewards is very much in its infancy and is slowly building out its core features, including earning and spending miles with partners. On this, Thairu noted that the program is in close contact with Air France, KLM, and Delta to draw out its first distance-based award charts. This can be a major factor in influencing members to join, with cheaper reward tickets being the best to generate interest.

However, for those living in Kenya or flying with Kenya Airways primarily, Asante promises to provide more regional benefits as one of Africa's only major loyalty programs. Expect partnerships with local retailers, online portals, and other avenues to increase your mileage balance on a daily basis. While it will be a long road to becoming a full-fledged program, it is promising to see work done toward developing Asante.

Photo: Asante Rewards

To earn status, members can also just fly with Kenya Airways (KQ), with no minimum points needed. Here are the requirements:

• Silver Elite: 15,000 points or 12 flights on KQ or partners
• Gold Elite Plus: 30,000 points or 25 flights
• Platinum Elite Plus: 60,000 points or 50 flights

Asante hasn't listed out the definition of partners, but it's likely only flights carrying KQ's code. While 50 sectors is ambitious, 12 or 25 flights for frequent flyers is quite achievable and perhaps an easy path to unlocking SkyTeam Elite Plus benefits.

Are you considering signing up for Asante Rewards? Let us know in the comments!