Norwegian Airlines and Strawberry have finalized their collaborative platform for their loyalty programs, Norwegian Reward and Strawberry, boasting 10 million members combined. The partnership, initially announced in June 2023, will now offer enhanced benefits for both members and partners. The joint venture’s framework has been adjusted to ensure that a significant portion of the loyalty program’s value remains with Norwegian and Strawberry respectively. Consequently, Norwegian will not recognize the previously mentioned initial accounting gain.
Under the new arrangement, both Norwegian and Strawberry will share equal ownership (50% each) of the joint venture right from its inception. The transaction was completed May 15, 2024, with plans for a market launch in the latter part of 2024. This revised structure also entails a modification to the agreement with financial services partner Avida to align with the joint venture’s setup.
“I am very pleased that we have reached this agreement with Strawberry, to the benefit of our more than 10 million Norwegian Reward and Strawberry members. Our partnership will be a loyalty game changer, with the world’s first multi-partner rewards points ecosystem with a single loyalty currency. This will give members the opportunity to earn and use a shared loyalty currency across participating programs and their partners. I am truly excited to share this exciting news with our members, and not least to welcome new partner companies in the time to come,” said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian.
“The deal marks an important part of history for our two Nordic companies, which both have a legacy of challenging our own industries. Norwegian shares our desire to develop innovative and better solutions for our guests and members, and our partnership is a strategic and cultural fit that will create enormous synergies for our members and partners. From the beginning, our clear ambition has been to create a shared loyalty currency and platform which will turbocharge Norwegian and Strawberry’s membership programmes, as well as to attract new and valuable partners to the ecosystem. When we enter the market with the Nordics’ new loyalty currency, all our members will have access to endless possibilities of travel, spa, restaurants, hotels, and much more, and the journey has just begun,” said Petter A. Stordalen, founder and owner of Strawberry.
