Recent news reports are indicating that the new owners of Qantas might sell off, or what chief executive Geoff Dixon calls “demerge”, parts of the airline’s operations including its frequent flyer program within the next year. Qantas plans to keep control of the Frequent Flyer program, which has 4.9 million members, but is considering splitting it up much in the way Air Canada did with its Aeroplan program. “We are probably one of the most outstanding frequent flyer programs out of anywhere in the world.” Dixon said. “We are going to review ownership, we would never sell it off, but we are going to review that.” With news of the sell off, Qantas’ stock rose and an analyst for JP Morgan predicts that the share price could go up another $1 because of moves such as selling the frequent flyer program. Other news includes the expansion of the program to include more partners such as financial institutions and an acquisition in Asia that has not been finalized.