“Demand is clearly outstripping supply,” said Nick Vournakis, executive vice president at corporate travel management firm CWT. “At some point, corporates are going to say enough is enough.”As Covid restrictions eased around the world, airlines struggled to reactivate their fleets and bring back staff fast enough to cope with the growing appetite for air travel. That’s limited capacity and seat availability. Higher fuel costs have also pushed up fares.
“We are seeing a hyper-awareness around spend,” said Marcus Eklund, global managing director at corporate travel-management company FCM.Checking fares to fly colleagues to a team gathering in Bangkok, Sydney-based management consultant Dhruv Sharma found his budget couldn’t stretch to business class, the usual choice, without doubling to $6,000 a person. “It has to be economy,” he said.
Whatever the final figure, travelers have been largely weaned off business trips because Zoom has shown what can be achieved without getting on a plane. The recent surge in fares is putting the benefits of video calls into even sharper relief. Fares are fluid and some routes are more extravagantly priced than others. Delta Air Lines Inc. and IAG-owned British Airways Plc are charging more than $10,000 to fly London-New York return in business class next month, according to travel portal kayak.com.