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Here's why you should care folks are fleeing first class: it can affect the price of your ticket
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Air New Zealand's Business Pemier beds.
Asia-Pacific premium travel is picking up.
So, why should you care that fewer flyers are fleeing the pointy end of the airplane for more stringent seats in the back of the bus? Here’s why: those premium passengers have historically helped subsidize the discount airfares in economy. That means cheaper fares for most folks, and more flights to more places – providing first and business class travelers do the heavy lifting when it comes to fares.
According to the International Air Transport Association’s latest Premium Traffic Monitor, “Passengers traveling on premium seats represent less than 10% of the total, but would normally contribute to 30% of the passenger ticket revenues.” That’s why, “the recovery of this market is key to a return to profitability for most network airlines,” carriers which have seen transatlantic premium traffic plummet.
According to IATA, this past August skies were a bit clearer. First and business class traffic was down 12% from the same month in 2008. While that’s a steep drop, it’s not nearly as bad as the nadir back in May when the number of premium seats being booked was off by 23.5%.
This is good news for the airline industry – but things are still sketchy. “World trade has picked up since June,” says IATA, “but not sufficiently to warrant a significant rise in premium travel.” And, here’s the worrisome part, “premium traffic numbers remain fragile.”
Where’s first and business class ridership rising fastest? In Asia-Pacific says IATA. Premium travel in this vast swath of the planet “went from a 19.5% decline in July to a level 10.4% [drop] in August.” Both those figure are relative to the same months in 2008.
Here in North America, premium travel is just plodding along. It’s still down almost 8% - this as IATA says, “Headwinds from consumer debt and excess business capacity will continue to prevent a strong economic recovery.”
The upside of all this? For now, for those who can afford a seat up behind the curtain, the price of first and business class carriage has rarely been riper. It’s a comparative bargain. Consider, a Biz Seat on OpenSkies Airlines between New York Kennedy (JFK) and Paris Orly (ORY) is selling for $693, one way just now. The price is predicated on a roundtrip buy and doesn’t include taxes and fees, but it’s still a steal.
Photo courtesy Air New Zealand
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