Premium class travel hit by crisis
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Business travellers, hit by the global financial crisis, are cutting back on their trips and forcing airlines to either slash their prices or to reduce capacity, an AFP report said.
British Airways, which has 10 flights daily between London and New York, is among the worst hit carriers.
“Long haul premium traffic has softened after the summer and forward bookings are being affected by the increased anxiety in financial markets and by the uncertain economic outlook,” it was quoted saying in a review of traffic for September.
BA saw an 8.6% drop in premium traffic and a 4.1% fall in non-premium traffic compared to the same month a year before, the airline had said on its website.
“There are a lot of job losses (in finance) and that tends to translate into a lot less travel, not to mention that companies are cutting back on their expenses,” a London-based analyst was quoted saying.
“It’s not just financial services, it’s other industries now feeling the pain also. So it’s a big problem for Lufthansa or Air France or for any carriers that relied on premium class services.”
Lufthansa too was quoted saying that its business passenger numbers were down.
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