The Air Canada spinoff had some interesting consequences, not the least of which is the much wider "selection" of redemption rewards. Like gift cards, furniture and appliances, and other merchandise. At 0.8 cents per mile redemption value, of course. In that respect, aeroplan has gone the way of Air Miles in Canada. It also bleeds money out of Air Canada (though since the public float is only 12.5%, the parent company can reallocate as desired.)

I suspect that aeroplan internally weighs each mile at 0.8 cents liability, but sells them at 1 cent. This includes reward travel and ClassicPlus variable reward pricing. ClassicPlus rewards can generate some very interesting valuations, though, since a 2.5 cents per mile (pretty normal for its front cabin) redemption still costs 450,000 miles per seat for a good long haul.

And since they are a "separate" entity, they get to pass a whole lot of fees back to the redemption travel customer... like $300 in taxes and surcharges on a reward economy ticket YYZ-LHR.