First-class air travel recovers slowly as Covid curbs ease

Free drinks, beds and even the luxury of travelling alongside fewer people in a pandemic has not been enough to tempt passengers back into airlines’ most expensive seats as flights resume. The number of journeys made in first or business class, the so-called premium cabins, has recovered more slowly than in economy over the past year, according to data from the IATA. Premium-class passenger journeys were 56% lower this summer compared with the same period in 2019, while economy-class journeys were down 46%, a trend that has remained consistent over the past year. The slow return of high-spending passengers is worrying for large network carriers such as British Airways or Lufthansa, whose business models are geared around the business and first-class cabins that generate a significant portion of their revenues. The figures reflect that pent-up demand for leisure travel has been far stronger than for business trips, where big corporates used to be relied on for buying the most expensive flexible tickets on important routes, such as between London and New York. Business travel can generate as much as 75% of airlines’ revenue on some international flights, according to PwC. The booming market for private jets also shows that some travellers have switched from commercial aircraft altogether during the pandemic. Private jet use is forecast to rise 5% this year compared with 2019, according to data from US industrial group Honeywell. The aviation industry on both sides of the Atlantic has long hoped that the full reopening of US borders, scheduled for November 8, will be the catalyst to spur executives to return to the air and many airlines have reported signs of corporate travel beginning to return.<br/>