Scandinavian Airlines Teams Up With Danish Neobank Lunar to Launch a Debit Card

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Lunar, a Danish neobank, recently launched a joint debit card for the airline’s users. The card will allow passengers to gain and use EuroBonus points, which can be used for SAS flights.

The New Debit Card To Grant Users EuroBonus Points

According to the partners, the EuroBonus points will unlock a number of perks for the SAS customers. Not only will they be able to use them for SAS flights, but also other travel perks, such as car rentals, hotels, and the like.

For Lunar, however, this partnership is a strategic move that will help the bank establish and cement its presence in Scandinavia.

With the new card, both new and existing users of the EuroBonus program will benefit from gaining new points. All they need to do is use the Lunar app for their everyday purchases. Meanwhile, the new debit card will be available to all of Lunar users in Scandinavia, regardless of whether they use it physically or via digital wallets.

By using the card, users can gain up to 8 EuroBonus points per 100 DKK spent. In addition, new customers who join Lunar moving forward will be granted 3,000 welcome points, while the first 10,000 will get 6,000 points.

Lunar’s CEO and founder, Ken Villum Klausen, said that this is a true Scandinavian brand and that Danes will feel it’s Danish, while Swedes will feel it’s Swedish. For Lunar, the move makes it feel like a local brand. Furthermore, he also noted that being able to partner with one of the most well-known Scandinavian airlines is a big thing since SAS has enormous brand value.

He also added that Lunar is strictly focused on the Nordic region, which provides an opportunity for growth with very little competition, thanks to the Nordic’s defensive infrastructure. In fact, Klausen views the Nordic banking landscape as one of the most unique and profitable on the planet.

A Shift From Credit To Debit Is Starting In Scandinavia

Lunar’s CEO also commented on the EuroBonus program, pointing out the move from credit to debit. He said that the program already has over 5 million members across Scandinavia and that many of them are running on credit cards right now.

So far, this has been a great thing for Scandinavian airlines, but he also said that things are changing and that there is a massive and ever-growing need to opt out of credit cards, with the locals developing a greater interest in debit card solutions.

He said that the majority of airline programs currently available are old credit, connected mostly through credit cards. The collaboration with Lunar represents the SAS’ first endeavor into debit, so it is quite a unique offering.

The dependence on credit cards is not only noticeable in Scandinavia, as he also said that the same can be seen with the US airlines.

Moving forward, the challenger bank intends to change that, and its goal for the next year is to continue driving growth across Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. He hopes that the bank will have more unique partnerships in the next six months, including some of the world’s largest fintechs that ae now running on Lunar Infra in the Nordic Region.