Avios Group CEO, Drew Crawley, in surprise resignation
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The Chief Executive and Chairman of Avios Group Ltd, Andrew (Drew) Crawley, surprised the loyalty industry yesterday by resigning.
A virtual IAG lifer, Drew initially joined BA in 1992 and – with a short break at one point – rose to become Chief Commercial Officer. In 2016 he moved across to run IAG Cargo. In May 2017 he was, literally, moved overnight into the role of Avios Group CEO after the sudden resignation of his predecessor.
History has repeated itself. Drew’s predecessor, Gavin Halliday, was another BA lifer who unexpectedly resigned, in his case to run Etihad’s various loyalty interests.
Assuming that Drew was the highest paid director at Avios Group, he was paid £996,000 last year including pension contributions.
Drew is heading to American Express Global Business Travel, where he will take up the role of Chief Commercial Officer next April.
If you think this seems like a downgrade – CEO to CCO – you need to know that Amex Global Business Travel is actually a private equity-backed venture. It is jointly owned by American Express (50%) and the Qatar Investment Authority and private equity groups Centares and Macquarie Capital.
The business was valued at $1.8bn back in 2014 when JV was set up. Drew is likely to have been offered a potential high-seven / low-eight figure equity package to join, albeit one which will only crystalise if the business is sold for what the owners currently believe it can be sold for in 2-3 years.
At this point in the story, you would expect me to drop in a few warm anecdotes about Drew. I’m not going to do that, because I never met him.
It has been an odd couple of years. I was close to Gavin Halliday, and we remain in touch even though he left Avios over two years ago. I never had as much as an email off Drew in the last 30 months.
Knowing how things works at IAG, Drew is likely to have been asked to leave the premises immediately after submitting his resignation.
It remains to be seen whether IAG decides to promote someone internally – the IAG ‘way’ is to move top talent across companies and divisions to broaden their experience rather than recruit externally – or if they move for someone with specific loyalty expertise.
Whoever it is will have to live up to this forecast for Avios revenue growth which Drew put into IAG’s Capital Markets Day presentation a few weeks ago:
As you can see, there is a substantial step-change planned in the number of Avios issued from 2020 onwards – up 9% year-on-year vs 7% over the last three years.
Hitting that target will now be someone else’s challenge.
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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (February 2025)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.
Capital on Tap Visa
NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review
Capital on Tap Pro Visa
10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review
There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.
American Express Business Platinum
50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
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