On June 23, 2011, one of the biggest Moldovan commercial banks, Victoriabank, announced during a press conference the launching, in partnership with Air Moldova and Visa, of a co-brand card - Visa Shop & Fly. This is the first product of this kind in the banking market of the Republic of Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports. The holders of this new Visa co-brand card can earn bonus miles traveling with the Air Moldova airlines or just paying for their everyday purchases. Afterwards, the accumulated miles can be used for various purposes: payment of full or partial cost of air tickets of Air Moldova in any direction, the upgrading of ticket class, service in the VIP hall of the Chisinau airport, payment of excess baggage fees, as well as various goods and services from the project partner companies, including travel packages, travel accessories, dinner at a restaurant and much more. Thus, traveling on any flight operated by Air Moldova, the Shop&Fly card holders receive as a gift from the air company from 175 to 4,000 bonus miles, depending on the destination and ticket class. “Loyalty programs for those who use air services are widely practiced throughout the world. Moldova is still at the beginning of this way. The decision to launch a co-brand card with Air Moldova was a logical continuation of a fruitful and effective collaboration lasting more than 13 years. The Shop&Fly card is a unique product in Moldova and we hope it will please everyone, as this is a highly advantageous offer and the customer can only to win ", the vice-president of Victoriabank, Ludmila Vangheli said. Vladmir Stovbun, head of Victoriabank’s Card Department, explained that using Visa Shop&Fly card for payment for goods and services in commercial points with a Shop&Fly logo in Moldova, customers receive 1 bonus mile for every 40 lei spent on the card. For purchases at any retail outlets in the country and abroad, they will receive1 bonus mile for every 80 lei spent and 10 bonus miles for each cash withdrawal outside the Republic of Moldova. Besides, partner companies, including travel agencies, restaurants or car rentals, have special offers with more bonus miles for Shop&Fly card holders. Within the project, customers receive Visa Electron and Visa Classic cards, which have all the usual options of this kind of cards, including other special offers of Victoriabank. In order to increase the efficiency and advantages of this partnership, when opening a Shop&Fly card, each holder also gets his first welcome bonus miles: 100 miles from Air Moldova and 100 miles from Victoriabank for holders of Visa Electron cards and 500 miles from Victoriabank and 500 miles from Air Moldova for Visa Classic cardholders. Mircea Maleca, financial director of Air Moldova, declared that the partnership with Victoriabank will allow the company to reward its most loyal customers and will facilitate the ticket purchase and discount procedures. “Launching this product is very important for a company with central role on the airlines market. We have flights to 18 destinations. We hope that, for the beginning, the 25,000 members of Air Moldova Club will get the card and then other customers may follow”, said Mircea Maleca. Irina Kamkhadze, business development manager of Visa in the CIS countries, said that the number of Visa cardholders in Moldova was on the rise. Moreover, the number of points accepting Visa cards and of ATMs increased as well and the amount of non-cash payment by companies grew to 35% of the total payments. The co-brand Shop&Fly card can be obtained at each of the 89 subdivisions of Victoriabank or at one of the four Air Moldova agencies. The first card was handed during the press conference to Elisaveta Moruz, one of the most loyal customers of Air Moldova.