BUSINESS NEWS


BTA chair Suzanne Horner (inset) noted most members reported ‘being ahead of 2019’ a year ago, but major airlines continue to


paint a different picture on corporate demand


Business travel revival still lags leisure sector


Revenue from higher airfares masks slower recovery in demand. Ian Taylor reports


Business Travel Association (BTA) members are due to meet at their annual overseas conference in Gibraltar next week to take stock of the state of the sector, key trends and priority asks of the new government. When the association met overseas


a year ago, it registered conflicting signals on the extent of the corporate travel recovery post-pandemic. BTA chair Suzanne Horner, chief


executive of Gray Dawes, noted “most people report being ahead of 2019” and leading members agreed. Flight Centre Europe chief financial officer


56 26 SEPTEMBER 2024


Adam Murray said: “We all see our businesses back.” Kevin Harrison, managing director of Good Travel Management, suggested: “Demand in the managed travel sector is stronger [than pre-Covid].” However, major carriers reported


business travel volumes in 2023 significantly below those of 2019, with British Airways parent IAG and Lufthansa reporting corporate bookings 30%-40% below pre-Covid levels. Some senior industry figures


acknowledged the mismatch. Clarity Travel chief executive Pat McDonagh


told Travel Weekly: “Business is not back at 2019 levels in terms of transactions. [But] revenue is back because airfares have risen 40%-50%.” He noted impediments to


a full return, saying: “You have more-distributed workforces, corporate rail travel is not back because of the state of the rail network, and airlines have restricted capacity.” In July this year, the Global


Business Travel Association (GBTA) Continued on page 54 travelweekly.co.uk


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PICTURE: British Airways


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