The New Year will also start with some, perhaps interesting, news for frequent flyers.

In March, Air Serbia will launch its own program. So far, the company has used Etihad’s program, Etihad Guest, on a co-branded basis. How this partnership will develop remains to be seen.

In April, Air New Zealand will rename its program to Koru. Aside from a new top elite tier, this is likely more of a rebranding than a fundamental overhaul of the program.

And then we are also waiting for the full launch of Riyadh Air’s Sfeer program, which has already announced partnerships with Air France, KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic!