14 May 2003 12:00am

The tussle in Canada over the right to be the credit card partner to the bankrupt Air Canada highlights the value to banks more than airlines of the importance of a free flights partnership.

The issue may be of relevance to Australia because of ANZ Bank's negotiations with Qantas to renew, and perhaps restructure, the terms under which the bank will be the partner with the airline as the issuer of the Qantas ANZ Visa card.

While any card issuer can buy free flights for card holders from Qantas, ANZ's relationship, and the size of the card holder base (about one...