Etihad clears 50.1% buyout, JetPrivilege spun off standalone
Regulatory approval came through on 5 February 2014 for Etihad to pay roughly $150 million for 50.1% of JetPrivilege, spinning Jet Airways' frequent-flyer program off as a separate, Etihad-controlled company. The program was later rebranded InterMiles in 2019.
JetPrivilege no longer belongs to Jet Airways. Regulatory approval landed on 5 February 2014 for Etihad to pay roughly $150 million for 50.1% of the program, converting what was a wholly-owned Jet Airways loyalty subsidiary into an independent company majority-owned by Etihad Aviation Group.
Read that structure carefully. Your JP Miles are now run by a standalone entity whose controlling shareholder is an Abu Dhabi airline group with its own network, its own priorities, and its own agenda. The program that existed to fill Jet Airways seats now answers to someone else’s strategy.
History says these spin-offs are rarely neutral for members: this one set up years of value and partner-list churn, and the program itself was eventually rebranded InterMiles in 2019.
Our take: when a loyalty program gets sold out of its airline, the currency’s incentives change ownership too. JP Miles holders should treat this as the start of a new — and less predictable — regime.