Originally Posted by
krismiler
A percentage of business travel will return, the question is how much. The technology for online meetings improved and was used because there was no other option, how many people had even heard of Zoom before COVID happened ?
The personal touch is still needed and somethings can’t be done online so the essential trips will still be made. If it can be done equally well online then it’s gone for good because the COVID lockdown changed the playing field and the teams adapted permanently to the new rules which they have found are saving them money.
Airlines with premium cabins will still need to fill them so I would expect to see discounting in an attempt to tip the balance in a decision over a marginally necessary trip or to persuade a few better off pax to upgrade from economy.
A business class ticket at 3-4 times the economy fare will be a difficult sell, get the fare down to double the economy price and you’ll have a lot more interest. Basically it comes down to yield management and how much they can get away with charging.
Seeing as business class seats take up
the space of at least 3 economy seats it would not make economic sense to have that real estate selling for less than 3x economy prices.