Embattled national flag carrier Qantas is courting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to help the company recover financially by launching on Monday the Acquire corporate loyalty programme.

Under the scheme, SMEs could earn rewards while doing their daily business transactions with the Flying Roo.

However, such benefits would appear to come at the expense of Frequent Flyers whose reward points system was amended in favour of the air carrier and 5,000 employees who would lose their jobs within the next three years.

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The everyday SME transactions would include travel, banking, insurance and parking through points given by Qantas's programme partners such as Westpac, Deloitte Private and GIO. However, Qantas Loyalty CEO Lesley Grant did not provide sufficient details on how the tangible benefits programme would work, although the scheme was recommended by New South Wales Business Chamber CEO Stephen Cartwright because it would provide support for 2 million SMEs in Australia.

Meanwhile, some disgruntled Frequent Flyers members are planning to enroll in rival Virgin Australia's 9-year-old Velocity programme that doesn't have legacy issues like Qantas's.

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