Off to a flying start

The Wine Flyer was set up as a subsidiary of IAG Loyalty, which includes the loyalty programmes for British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Aer Lingus and Vueling Club. So, it started with an already large and engaged audience of members and it offers them another way to spend and collect the group’s global currency, Avios (which is owned and run by IAG Loyalty but includes partnerships with American Express, Nectar, Avis Budget Group and Marriott). That other way of spending is ordering wines, such as those served on British Airways’ flights.
The idea is that with a monthly subscription and regular orders of their favourite wines, members could earn enough to fly to short-haul destinations like Paris, Barcelona or Naples in just six months.


CEO Jack Smith (above) explains the model: “Wine is an area of huge passion for hundreds of thousands of British Airway Executive Club members and I believe we have a unique skillset to build this retail business that can support an already highly engaged customer base.”
He adds: “This unique business model and direct sales channel… is showing early signs of promise and potential to challenge established brands in the online wine retail space. Of all orders to date, members have saved on 60% of purchases with inclusion of Avios, showing a real value-add for customers who are collecting the currency across 125 leading global brands including British Airways, American Express, Nectar and Uber.”
It’s an intriguing model, but how do they select the wine offer for members?


The buying team told Canopy they are looking for:

Varietals and appellations. “Our main focus has been building the breadth of varietals and appellations that we know are proving popular with our customer base and using our sales and demographic insights to shape the future portfolio. This year, we’ll be adding plenty more Argentinian Malbec, Bordeaux, Cotes du Rhone, Primitivo di Puglia and Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc options which consistently remain our bestsellers.” Examples of popular varietals include:

• N28 Xige Estate Chardonnay – “A firm favourite of our buying team. Xige Estate is a relatively new producer founded in 2017 and located in the Dove Mountain area in the Helan Mountain Wine region. Although a young winery, the quality is exceptional and is paving the way for a new era of Chinese fine wine.” 
• Integro Organic Primitivo IGP – “Beautifully crafted full-bodied and organic Primitivo that’s a very popular dinner party wine for our buying team.” 

Wines with eco-credentials. “Going into 2024, we are partnering more with producers and winemakers who adopt sustainable winemaking practices primarily around water and energy conservation. Where possible and the scenario allows, we want to bottle more in the UK to reduce our emissions.” An example is Yealands’ L5 Sauvignon Blanc, Albarino and Pinot Noir.

Wines from women. “We will be spotlighting a number of the excellent female winemakers within the portfolio today and adding to that throughout 2024.” An example of this type of wine is Catherine Marshall’s Chenin Blanc Fermented in Clay. “This is an exceptional Chenin which has featured on BA over the years and made by one of South Africa’s leading female winemakers. We’ll be running an event with Cathy later this year.”

More exclusives. “We have a number of exclusive wines from France, Italy, Spain and New Zealand either available in the UK today or being bottled/shipped to us that deliver both excellent quality and value for money for our customers.” An example is No 8 Wire – created in collaboration with Propeller/Wild Ferment Ltd. “There’s a lovely story behind the name of this excellent Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Number 8 Wire was used by the early pioneers in New Zealand for all sorts of things. This phrase has now become synonymous with New Zealanders’ can-do attitude, ingenuity and resourcefulness and these days is best known for its use for trellising and vine management. It literally is a steel wire used for trellising!”