Airlines booming in luxury: That’s why travelers flock to Business Class

“The business class business is doing extremely well,” confirms Florian Dehne, aeronautical specialist at consulting firm Roland Berger. “For several years there has been a trend that the proportion of business class passengers is quite high, especially in popular resorts. After Corona, this trend intensified. »

It used to be a situation where business customers had to relax during the flight, they needed more comfort to arrive at the meeting rested. Now the following applies: Vacation travelers want the same thing. This means that something like a customer change has occurred in Business Class. Anyway, things are going very well in passenger aviation. Airline bosses rejoice. This is true not only in the US, the largest aviation market, but also in other parts of the world, such as Europe. The Corona crisis was yesterday.

The trend towards luxury vacation flights

In fact, airlines can delete the Business Class name because in Business Class it’s no longer just people traveling for business. So, if you want to buy something while traveling, take a business flight. Even book First. The First business is also doing well right now, although not all airlines offer First.

“Entertainment and business travel are increasingly intermingled,” says Dehne. “It’s also about fare systems becoming much more flexible for business class tickets.”

In the beginning it was like this: Airlines were courting business travelers because they were particularly lucrative. It is usually a customer who buys expensive tickets in a very short time. For example, employers, international banks and insurance companies receive generous discounts from airlines but also book large numbers of flights for their employees. It’s worth it for airlines.

inner frame

Then came the era when many companies paid a little more attention to travel expenses. Some executives were reluctantly forced to return to board class because job ticket prices were hardly justified, especially on short flights.

The pandemic later taught us that making a video call instead of an airplane is often enough. Of course, no one works remotely anymore, but the classic one-day business trip has drastically reduced. Airlines responded by reducing frequency on many typical business routes.

Mix of business and leisure travel

In general, a lot has changed in business travel: It is now popular to combine business travel with leisure travel. Instead of flying to the customer from Tuesday to Thursday, the trip is now booked, for example, from Wednesday to Friday, and an extended weekend has been added to the resort – possibly with a spouse and family.

The term “bleisure travel”, which combines work and leisure, is booming. Some airlines report higher sales from bleisure customers than traditional business travelers. This is how the airline business with commercial customers is reorganized after Corona.

Consultant Dehne argues that the business class is also in greater demand as it opens up to new target groups. “Airlines are missing a large portion of business travel right now. It’s currently only around 60 percent of what is normal in 2019.

The fact that leisure and leisure travelers often form a strong group is already observed on certain routes: “This has long been common on popular routes like New York, Bangkok or Johannesburg,” says Dehne. “On these routes, business class is usually more busy with leisure customers than business travelers.”

Sleep comfort on the long road

And finally, the advantages of Business Class only become apparent on long flights. On airplanes used in Europe or as far as North Africa, the seats in business class are no different from those in economy class. “You sit only at the front, often getting a free middle seat and refreshments as well as a number of benefits at the airport, such as increased baggage allowance or fast security checks,” says Alexander Koenig, founder of frequent flyer consultancy First Class & More. . “So on European flights the question is: how much are the benefits worth?”

On the other hand, according to Koenig, most airlines have a business class seat that can be converted into a fully flat bed on long-haul routes. Also the food service is much better. “Especially on night flights, most passengers will appreciate the increased sleeping comfort, while on shorter daytime flights many will forego that comfort and perhaps opt for Premium Economy Class, which offers more comfort than Economy Class alone.”

Criticisms, such as the fact that Business Class is much worse than Eco when it comes to environmental friendliness, leaves many wealthy customers rather cold. And yet First customers.

Airlines raise business class

But how long will the business be in such demand? “The trend where business class is doing well should continue for at least five years, while travel will definitely become more expensive overall,” says Florian Dehne. “Increased specifications and increased environmental taxes for blending sustainable aviation fuel are having an impact on the price.”

What can be seen in any situation: airlines continue to upgrade for business class. There’s high competitive pressure: “The trend in business class is clearly towards suites and more privacy,” says Dehne. This puts pressure on some established airlines, especially those that tend to have longer product cycles and are currently in the process of massively redesigning their business class.

While Lufthansa has already introduced its new Business Class, Swiss travelers will have to wait until 2025. Then passengers should be able to book a number of additional options in Business Class, such as a so-called privacy seat by the window, which should have the greatest possible distance to the aisle. Or an extra long bed 2.20 meters long instead of the previous 2 meters. As in Lufthansa, a total of seven different seat types are planned for Business.

Part of a completely new cabin concept, the new Business Class in Swiss will be installed first on the Airbus A330-300 aircraft and later on the Boeing 777-300ER long-haul aircraft. As Swiss knows, the newly ordered Airbus A350-900 must be delivered with new cabin interior.

Are the high investments worth it?

Airline executives hope their bets on investing in business class will pay off: airlines like Lufthansa, Qantas and Etihad are obviously extra-large when these seats can be sold for multiples of economy tickets, placing beds and UHD TVs on their planes.

But if the luxury boom slows down and high post-corona travel costs fall significantly again, airlines’ high spending will not pay off. Additionally, climate considerations could come to the fore again among passengers, which could become a problem for the business class boom.

Then expand the expensive business class seats again – it’s not so easy.