Business travel is getting a boost this summer from the improving economy and from corporations opening their pocketbooks to employee travel in premium cabins.
Though corporate revenue remains under pre-recession levels, the jump in business travel has diminished concerns that higher fuel prices would slow recovery.
Instead, airline executives speaking at an investor conference in New York on Tuesday said that corporate travel is returning and revenue trends were on a positive projection.
US Airways’ executives reported that corporate revenues for the airline had made a huge 50 percent leap in May compared to 2009.
Delta Air Lines also reported significant gains in corporate travel sales with a 63 percent increase over last year. The airline said that business flights to Asia had increased by 50 percent, while trans-Atlantic corporate revenue had risen 30 percent.
Learn more in our Business Travel section.
After unprecedented declines in business travel of as much as 40 percent in 2009, the double-digit gains that most major U.S. carriers are forecasting for the second quarter is a welcome change.
In addition, though expansion plans have slowed down across the board, even for budget carriers like Southwest Airlines, the improvements were seen as more sustainable than in previous downturns.
However, many airline executives interviewed on Tuesday remained cautiously optimistic about the positive trends in business travel.
The airlines have a long way to go before returning to the business traveler volumes that existed before the airlines were hit with high fuel prices in 2007 and a recession in 2008.
The high unemployment rate also tempers any celebratory mood the airlines might have about business travel improvements.
By Adriana Padilla for PeterGreenberg.com.
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