Business travel for airlines is probably never going to come back to the level it was before Covid, industry analysts suggest.
It’s the honeypot of airline’s business model: 30% of their passengers are traveling on business but the fares they pay account for 50% of airline revenue. The expectation was that there would be a rebound of business travel by September, when kids are back in school, summer in the rearview mirror, Covid cases dropping by the day.
Then came the Delta variant, and all bets are off.
“Going forward, airlines are going to have to make some moves to attract business travelers to come back, otherwise the losers are going to be the consumers who are going to have to fill in that gap to the airlines’ bottom line,” says Daniel McCarthy with Travel Market Report.
That means higher airfare for the holiday traveler this Thanksgiving and Christmas. This might be the year to make your holiday travel plans early and lock in your costs in advance.
photo: Getty Images