March business travel down most since 2003 -IATA

[Mal]

UPDATE 1-March business travel down most since 2003 -IATA | Reuters

NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) - The number of international airline passengers traveling first class and business class in March declined the most since 2003, according to a trade group for international airlines.

IATA said in a report that global first class and business class traffic in March fell 3.9 percent from the same month last year, the biggest monthly decline since 2003.

Within North America, such "premium" traffic for IATA airlines was down 8.5 percent in March from a year earlier and down 5.2 percent for the year through March from the same period last year.

Within Europe, first class and business class traffic for IATA airlines was down 17.1 percent in March and down 10.7 percent for the year through March.

Year-to-date first class and business class traffic was up 18.5 percent between Africa and the Middle East, up 7.9 percent between Europe and the Middle East, and up 16.8 percent between the Middle East and the Far East.

The decline in March business travel was exaggerated by this year's early Easter, but even after adjusting for this, global first and business class traffic in March fell by between 1 percent and 2 percent, the IATA said.

[JohnK]

That doesn't sound like very good news for the airlines or for airline passengers in general.

There does not appear to be an end in sight for the ever increasing price of oil and I am not certain that we have fully seen the effects of the sub prime crisis on the US or global economies.

[simongr]

A 1-2% fall is not dramatic really - the problem with a fall in J is the knock effect on pricing. With J subsidising whY on some routes, marginal routes are going to become unprofitable very quickly.

I wonder how much of that fall in J/F was directly the result of the major banks tightening their collective belts and some reluctance to travel around the opening of T5 at LHR. One implication of the Sub-prime disaster is the credit crunch - in the short term companies have less access to fund capital projects so we will see a medium term contraction - but then companies will have to invest heavily to get back on track. Some consultants are going to make a lot of money in about 4 years...

[albatross710]

There was an article on ABC NewsRadio this morning (Fri 30 May) that US air passengers are choosing not to fly for business travel. From what I jeard they are fed up with cancellations, poor service, delayed fligths, over crowded airports. They quoted some figures like $26B of lost economic benefit.

=======================================
Air travelers, tired of inefficient security screening, flight cancellations and delays, avoided some 41 million trips over the past year and that has cost the national economy $26 billion, a survey from the Travel Industry Association (TIA) reveals.

The survey, conducted by polling firms Peter D. Hart Research Associates and The Winston Group, said the lack of air travel cost airlines more than $9 billion in revenue, hotels nearly $6 billion and restaurants more than $3 billion. Federal, state and local governments also lost more than $4 billion in tax revenue because of reduced spending by travelers.

"Many travelers believe their time is not respected and it is leading them to avoid a significant number of trips," said Allan Rivlin, a partner at Peter D. Hart Research Associates. "Inefficient security screening and flight cancellations and delays are air travelers' top frustrations."

Air travelers apparently have little hope for positive change, with nearly 50 percent saying the air travel system is not likely to improve in the near future. More than 60 percent believe the air travel system is deteriorating. And travelers are most irritated about the air travel process, not the airlines, according to the survey.

The survey of 1,003 air travelers (adults who had taken at least one roundtrip by air in the last 12 months) was conducted between May 6 and May 13 and has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.
TIA is an non-profit that represents the travel industry and promotes increased travel to and within the United States.

Survey: Less flying costs American economy $26 billion - Dayton Business Journal:

[drron]

These surveys though are for first class travel in the USA and business class travel in Europe-both a bit of a joke and hard to justify the extra cost.
I note the first article shows a big increase in premium travel in long haul out of the Middle East.On our recent Circle asia trip only 1 leg in J was not nearly full.QF52 on 26/5 was full in J.
The price of oil and the siphoning off of revenue by the LCCs is the real threat for those of us that still enjoy the premium product.

[oz_mark]

Air travelers, tired of inefficient security screening, flight cancellations and delays, avoided some 41 million trips over the past year and that has cost the national economy $26 billion, a survey from the Travel Industry Association (TIA) reveals.

I would say that the $26 billion is a bit of a rubbery figure.The fact is they may have used alternatve methods to achieve the same end.

The survey, conducted by polling firms Peter D. Hart Research Associates and The Winston Group, said the lack of air travel cost airlines more than $9 billion in revenue, hotels nearly $6 billion and restaurants more than $3 billion. Federal, state and local governments also lost more than $4 billion in tax revenue because of reduced spending by travelers.

The money more than likely got used in other ways.

"Many travelers believe their time is not respected and it is leading them to avoid a significant number of trips," said Allan Rivlin, a partner at Peter D. Hart Research Associates. "Inefficient security screening and flight cancellations and delays are air travelers' top frustrations."

Nt respecting customers time is not a unique problem to airlines. In Australia, I would suggest that Banks, Telco's, supermarkets, etc are all guilty of this.

Air travelers apparently have little hope for positive change, with nearly 50 percent saying the air travel system is not likely to improve in the near future. More than 60 percent believe the air travel system is deteriorating. And travelers are most irritated about the air travel process, not the airlines, according to the survey.

I would agree with this. Little hope of things improving any time soon. And with the airlines looking to save costs due to escalating oil prices if anything it will get worse.