American Airlines has confirmed that as part of its newly exclusive deal with Citi, applications for the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® have been pulled and the Barclays Aviator portfolio will go away.
“We are proud to build on our 38-year card partnership with Citi by naming them as our exclusive issuer for our AAdvantage® cobranded credit card portfolio in the U.S. beginning in 2026,” a spokesperson for American Airlines told TPG in a written statement.
The airline will fully transition the American Airlines credit card program to Citi in 2026 and is no longer accepting applications for new Barclays AAdvantage Aviator cards.
The information for the AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Barclays used to have several cards under its AAdvantage Aviator portfolio. However, only one was recently available to new applicants: the AAdvantage Aviator Red. That is no more.
As we’ve previously reported, Citi is becoming the exclusive issuer of AAdvantage cards starting next year. American Airlines told TPG at the time that “existing Barclays AAdvantage® Aviator® cardmembers can continue using their card and earning AAdvantage® miles and Loyalty Points, along with all current benefits, until the program converts to Citi in 2026.”
We don’t yet know what cards in the Citi portfolio the Aviator cards will transition to, but we’re told that more details on the transition to Citi will be shared with AAdvantage Aviator cardmembers in the coming months.
Bottom line
The Aviator card portfolio is going away at the beginning of next year as American Airlines phases out its relationship with Barclays. I’m feeling a bit bittersweet about the news.
This portfolio of cards has been key to my elite status strategy with American Airlines and its Loyalty Points system within the American Airlines AAdvantage program. I’ve long held the no-longer-available AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Silver Mastercard®.
It has a favorite feature: a shortcut to status. You can earn up to 15,000 Loyalty Points after qualifying spending each status qualification period. You get 5,000 Loyalty Points for spending $20,000, another 5,000 Loyalty Points for spending $40,000 and another 5,000 Loyalty Points if you hit $50,000 in spending each year on the card.
That will help me earn top-tier AAdvantage Executive Platinum status this year but will likely no longer be an option beginning in 2026. I will be eager to learn if there are other ways to get shortcuts to status for the new Citi-branded cards.
The information for the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Silver Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
For a look at some of the current best offers for Citi’s large portfolio of American Airlines credit cards, check out this story.
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Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
