Will airlines suffer?
And what about the airlines? How is the economic downturn going to affect their revenue from business class services?
Stephen Pearse, vice president for Emirates in Australia, says: “The next year is not going to be an easy ride for the airline industry overall. Emirates will not be totally immune from this, and we are expecting to see some reduction in premium class traffic. Currently Emirates’ bookings remain healthy and because we are committed to the Australian market and have a strong product offering, we are optimistic of remaining an airline of preference for our Australian customers.
“This year has already seen Emirates increase capacity on its Sydney to Dubai and Sydney to Auckland routes with the introduction of the new A380 aircraft. In addition to launching the A380, we have further enhanced our capacity into Australia by introducing second-daily Brisbane and third-daily Melbourne services in February. We plan to continue to pursue our growth strategy in Australia by launching a third-daily Sydney service later this year.”
People will always fly business
Pearse adds there will always be a need for business class, however bad the economic situation. “Customers travelling internationally for business purposes have additional service and communications requirements to those of international leisure travellers. Business travellers, especially those who are time-poor or travelling frequently, need to know they can arrive at their destination relaxed, refreshed, and with minimum inconvenience when flying with us. They also need to have the confidence that our communications services will allow them to easily conduct business in-flight as required.”
So the need is there but is the money to pay for it? Expect to see business class seats get cheaper in the not too distant future.
Business class benefits
The following are available on most airlines’ business class services:
On the plane
- Laptop charging
- Satellite phones
- In-flight entertainment
- Seatback SMS and email services
- Multilingual cabin crew
In the lounge
- Free broadband and wireless LAN access
- Individual workstations
- Newspapers and satellite television news
- Full bar and catering
At the airport
- Priority baggage handling
- Dedicated check-in facilities
- Chauffeur drive to and from home
- Fast track immigration services
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Small businesses should not travel business class. I think this person from Travelscene is biased by his self interest (i.e. higher commissions). I’m sick of executives wasting money that we work hard to earn the company. The arguments used to “justify” business class are weak and it is indeed just a wasteful perk.
The clever businesses out there give you an extra day in your destination to recover and prepare and then time in lieu when you get back. This is much more effective than wasting money on business class.