NEW DELHI : As travel resumes normalcy after the pandemic, several tour operators and airlines are reporting that demand for business and premium economy tickets has risen compared with the pandemic and pre-pandemic period.
With air travel, especially business travel, slumping during the pandemic and economy-class airfares skyrocketing, an unintended consequence was that the gap between economy and premium economy tickets narrowed.
Travel agency Thomas Cook India has seen a 50% jump in business class travel versus last year as corporate travel resumes. Overall, there is a 5-10% growth in demand for premium seats compared with the pandemic year of 2019-20.
While demand for business class tickets extends across most metro sectors such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, the growth per sector has been about 10% for Southeast Asia, Dubai and Abu Dhabi; 5% for Europe, the UK and Australia; also 5-8% for metro routes in India, said Indiver Rastogi, president and group head, global business travel, Thomas Cook India and SOTC Travel.