AOPA, MBNA ink new deal providing financial services to members

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and MBNA America Bank, N.A. today signed a contract to continue an 18-year relationship in which MBNA offers credit card and other financial services to AOPA members. It continues AOPA's popular FBO 5% Rebate Program. The new agreement spans six years, double the length of previous contracts.

"Our longstanding partnership creates real benefits for AOPA members and for MBNA," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "MBNA has learned that our members are low-risk, highly responsible customers, so the bank can offer us great deals."

Since its inception 63 years ago, one of AOPA's goals has been to keep the cost of flying affordable. The AOPA credit card program is an integral part of that effort and is a large part of the reason annual membership dues have remained at $39 for more than 13 years.

The association receives a percentage of every purchase made with the card, which AOPA uses for member programs such as Airport Watch, Airport Support Network, Project Pilot, GA Serving America, and many others that go beyond what the annual dues will cover.

In addition, members receive a direct benefit from the FBO 5% Rebate program, worth up to $250 annually, and the Sporty's Discount program. To date, AOPA members have received almost $10 million in rebates.

Thanks to nearly two decades of working with AOPA members, MBNA America has become one of the most pilot-friendly banks in the United States, offering very favorable terms for aircraft purchase or aircraft improvement loans and, most recently, a flight training loan program.

With some 389,000 members, AOPA is the world's largest civil aviation organization, chartered to protect the interests of general aviation in the United States. Two thirds of all U.S. pilots are members of AOPA.

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