Business travellers still fleeing premium classes分析和总结总结.pdf

PREMIUM ticket purchases worldwide fell by 21% in February, the International Air Transport Association reported last week. That decline is even worse than Januarys already-disturbing 16% drop, and should have most airlines in a panic. The sale of premium—i.e., non-coach class—tickets is a huge part of nearly every airlines business model. Business travellers buy most premium tickets, often effectively subsidising cheaper coach-class travel. But with companies facing a global recession, business travellers are increasingly likely to fly coach or simply stay home. Thats causing the crash in premium ticket purchases and doing great violence to airlines bottom lines. The damage wont be temporary, either. As Gulliver noted in March, airlines never recover all the premium ticket buyers they lose during recessions. After each recession, some of the companies that cut back decide to stick with the lower-cost travel plans they adopted during hard times. So when airlines see a 21% drop in premium sales, they know that theyll never get back some of what theyre losing. That makes the pain especially bad. Even the business travellers that are staying in the front of the plane during this downturn are doing so at cheaper rates, the Guardian reports: Business fare revenues fell by 30% in February as airlines cut prices in a frantic bid to maintain demand. As always, whats bad for the airlines is good for the lucky few who are still flying business class. On Wednesday, Gulliver wrote about how much fares are falling on Australian routes. Business travellers, what has your experience been? Are you paying much less now than you did before the downturn? Is anyone upgrading to business class because its getting so much cheaper?