Aeroplan is not obligated to link up with Air Canada or other Star Alliance carriers as it searches for an airline partner for its newly acquired Nectar loyalty program in Britain, according to a Reuters report.

Aeroplan CEO Rupert Duchesne has stated that plans for 2008 for the loyalty program include adding a travel component to the retail-based partners, but that they are under no contractual obligation to Air Canada. “We could do a deal with EasyJet, we could do a deal with Virgin Atlantic, we could even do a deal with British Airways in that market, providing the Nectar currency isn’t translatable into the Aeroplan currency and then would become a competitive threat to Air Canada.”