Almost one in two (46%) business travellers now flies in standard class despite a huge investment by airlines in premium economy facilities, the 11th annual Barclaycard business travel survey claims.
The amount of business travellers flying in standard class rose by 3% in Barclaycard’s 2006 survey – carried out in December last year – compared to the figure for 2005. The survey suggests this is at the expense of business-class travel, which was down by 3% to 14%. Just 1% of business travellers now went first class, the survey added, compared to 2% in 2005.
“The introduction by some airlines of a premium economy class does not seem to have encouraged business travellers to either ‘buy up’ or ‘buy down’, where passengers move from standard economy or business class to premium economy,” said Denise Leleux, director of commercial cards at Barclaycard Business.
“The results suggest that despite the heavy investment in premium economy services by some airlines, business travellers seem reluctant to change from the class they are used to.”
The most popular airline for business travel was British Airways, the survey found, chosen by 48% of respondents, an increase of 1% from 2005. This was followed by Virgin (8%), easyJet (7%) and bmi and Ryanair (both 3%).
In the budget travel sector, the most popular choice was still easyJet, which was cited by 32% of respondents. But this represented a fall from 37% in 2005 and BA’s entry into the budget sector is also gathering pace, with 14% of business travellers describing the company as their preferred budget carrier, double the figure of 7% in 2005. Ryanair’s popularity also decreased, from 13% in 2005 to 11% in 2006.
The research also claimed only 2% of business travellers were influenced by frequent-flyer schemes and air-mile incentive programmes when picking an airline.
