Business travel aircraft erode passengers on scheduled airlines in the US
A recent report in Flight International reveals that the growing appeal of business aircraft travel in the USA is eroding the number of high-fare business passengers on scheduled airlines, according to an air travel analysis by US consultancy the Velocity Group.
βThe best-paying passengers on US airlines have dropped by almost half in the last five years, often to the benefit of business aviation,β says the Washington DC-based company.
The growing acceptance of business aircraft, the expansion of fractional ownership and pre-paid on-demand charter card programmes and a βcontinued rise in the airline βmiseryβ index have driven a steady expansion in the number of higher-yield travellers using business jet and turboprop aircraftβ, says Velocity Group partner Gerald Bernstein.
βThere are approximately 13 million one-way trips taken annually on business aircraft. The share of trips using these aircraft is now almost one-third that of airline high-yield trips,β he adds.
The analysis also reveals the number of higher-yield trips has fallen from 18% of overall airline travel before 9/11, to 9% in 2005. βDespite a rise in total airline passenger trips, the number of higher-yield trips has declined from almost 80 million to 41 million since the year 2000; 20 million have been lost in the past two years alone,β Bernstein says.
βItβs tough for most airlines to make a decent profit with 85% of passengers flying on discount fares. It will be interesting to see if the imminent competition anticipated from the emerging air taxi operations will further erode the airline high-yield segment,β he adds.
Geoff Ceasar
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