Commentary: Death of business travel has been greatly exaggerated - CNA

At US airline Delta, business travel has recovered to “somewhere in the mid-80s” per cent of normal levels, while the recovery is slower but building in Europe. British Airways owner IAG said corporate bookings had returned to 70 per cent of normal, and it was aiming to get back to 85 per cent this year.

Corporates are still lagging behind booming leisure travel, but previous downturns suggest that business trips typically take longer to come back, meaning there should be room to grow further. McKinsey has calculated that international business travel from the US took five years to fully recover from the global financial crisis, while leisure travel was back within two years.

STARTLING COST OF FLYING

The recovery comes despite the startling cost of flying. British Airways, American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic were last Thursday all quoting more than £7,500 (US$9,300) for a return business class trip between London and New York in the last week of April.

The prices reflect the higher cost of airline operations and flight capacity that is still lower than before the pandemic across the industry. But they also reinforce the exuberant appetite for flying.

Airlines set ticket prices to reflect demand, and passengers and corporates are swallowing these prices despite continued pockets of travel disruption this year, including more than 300 flights cancelled in 10 days from London’s Heathrow airport because of a strike.

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