Premium travel returning

Despite fears of changes in the way we fly, the first quarter of 2010 saw a rebound in the popularity of premium economy, business and first class.

It was thought that the financial crisis might result in a structural change to the premium market, with business class travel to virtually die out as companies sought to save money, but it seems more travellers are starting to fly in the premium classes again.

According to statistics published by the International Air Transport Association, the premium market saw a rise of 20% globally.

IATAThe International Air Transport Association: IATA represents and serves the airline industry, with a membership made up of around 230 airlines. The association seeks to raise awareness of how aviation benefits the economy, fight for airline's interests and ensure industry regulations are sensible. IATA helps its members directly by offering advice on reducing costs while improving efficiency and on improving safety standards. It also provides professional support in the form of publications, training and consulting. said it appeared to be recovering "cyclically" in a number of regions, "alongside improvements in global trade".

Economy travel is now back to pre-recession levels, added IATA.

While Europe is on course to be the only region whose aviation industry will lose money this year, travel bosses still report a rise in travel in line with IATA's figures.

David Jackson, operationals executive officer at Advantage, said he has seen a rise in premium travel of 30%.

"Premium travel is definitely increasing, more so than the rest," said Jackson. He said yield was on the increase, but capacity was staying the same.

Long haul premium travel is seeing more of an upturn than short haul, added Jackson.

"It's definitely biased towards long haul," he said, referring to flights of more than five hours, "the reason being that on short haul, the premium product is not much different. It's more to do with the flexibility."

Nigel Turner, director of public sector UK, said Carlson Wagonlit (CWT) had seen similar behaviour from its clients. Economy travel overall for all destinations was up 9%, while business class was up 16%.

"What's coming back is the long haul traffic. Where people go long haul, the justification needed for going business class has been relaxed," he said.

While CWT reported transatlantic premium class travel was up 28%, and other long haul up 31%, in the first three months of the year compared to the same period last year, travel in European business class was up by only 3%.

 "Premium economy is doing pretty well also," said Turner. "Premium economy is up 45% year on year on transatlantic travel."

Clients are still looking for "extremely good value", added Turner. "We're seeing more people take fares that have perhaps more restrictions, perhaps with different carriers than they would before, and perhaps indirect routes on long haul, to get the savings."

 www.iata.org