Corporate air travel takes off once again

Mumbai: As global economy improves, corporate business air travel too has followed suit with the industry seeing a sharp rise in the past few weeks.
Travel agents and travel portal executives say corporate bulk bookings have resumed, reflecting a recovery pattern in the corporate travel segment. Corporate sector air travel, which typically accounts for nearly half the airlines’ capacity consumption, had shrunk sharply due to cost cutting last year.
“We have seen a 40% increase in bulk air tickets bookings from various corporate clients, including Blue Star, since last eight weeks,” said travel portal Cleartrip sales vice-president Naveen Gulrajani.
During the recession, corporates embarked on a cost-cutting drive and business travel was the first to be struck off the list.
“The recovery has seen more travellers and is expected to grow further in the coming months,” said Ashwini Kakkar, executive vice chairman of Mercury Travels.
Travel agents say apart from the leisure sector, business travel is back on track as corporates have started hiring people and stalled expansion plans have been revived.
Load factors had dipped to less than 50% during the downturn, but now airlines will push up ticket prices amid strong demand from corporates helping the industry to recover from one of its worst downturns, said a sectoral analyst.Travel Agents Federation of India general secretary Ajay Prakash says prices are unlikely to hit rock bottom again. Airlines will introduce more variety in the price ranges in 2010, he added. IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani says demand continues to improve, but we still have a lot of ground to recover.
01/01/10 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2010