Cattle class not for high flyers
Corporate travellers are leading the charge in a growing number of Australians who are opting to fly business class instead of economy amid a moderation in airfares as airlines continue to ramp up international operations.
Data from Flight Centre Travel Group shows there has been a 6 per cent lift in business class bookings in the year ending June 2024, compared to the previous financial year.
It was led by international corporate bookings under the company’s brands FCM Travel and Corporate Traveller, which were up 14 per cent.
Flight Centre Corporate Global chief operating officer Melissa Elf said more business travellers were demanding premium cabins for better health and wellbeing, while workplaces saw it as a tool to attract and retain talent.
“Many of our corporate travellers are making the decision to book business or first class travel so they can get a decent sleep or continue to work productively if they’re travelling through the day,” she said. “It’s also becoming an expectation from employees, if they’re travelling long haul, they expect to travel business class, and if they don’t get that, they’ll look for a company that does.”
The most common destination for business class was Europe, followed by North America and then Asia.
International airline capacity had returned to about 95 per cent of pre-covid levels in Australia, compared to 101 per cent globally, according to Flight Centre.
Ms Elf said Australia would reach and surpass 2019 levels this year.
The latest Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics report for February showed that total seats on international scheduled operations to/from Australia in the month was 4.117 million, compared to 4.34 million in the same period in 2019.