Premium traffic on the up
Premium traffic has been on an 18-month nose dive since the financial crisis. Passenger numbers across the industry have been hit hard, but with people looking to save money first and business class travel has all but disappeared.
This has led to significant issues for legacy carriers who, traditionally, look to generate about 50% of their revenue from premium travellers. It has also led to a number of carriers reducing the number of the more expensive seats on their aircraft.
Therefore, any good news for this sector would be very welcome for all airlines concerned and is a key indicator that people are beginning to return to their pre-recession travel behaviour. The International Air Transport Association, IATA, last week released figures for premium traffic during January of this year.
The figures, compiled as past of the Premium Traffic Monitor, suggest that the drop in this type of travel is beginning to rise again. This is in contrast to the fears of many that high end travel on conventional airlines was dyeing off.
The figures over the last four years show a cyclical pattern with premium air traffic just starting to climb out of the trough over the last few months. There has been a 10% growth in elite travel in the last quarter and it is currently sitting 9.4% above its lowest point.
These figures are for the global trends and unfortunately the news in the European sector is not so positive. Within the continent premium traffic in January 2010 was 7% down on the same month in 2009. The year on year fall from January 2008 to 2009 was 25%.
However, the signs suggest the sector will re-emerge and Europe has been hit extremely hard by the recession so is proving to be on a slower road to recovery.
