Fliers splurge on most expensive seats as travel restarts

Fliers splurge on most expensive seats as travel restarts

Aviation















Bloomberg

More people are flying in more expensive cabins for leisure trips despite airfares rising on surging oil prices and demand, and that’s helped offset a slower recovery in business travel, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

reporters in Singapore. “Consumers had disposable income during the two years of the pandemic. People have saved and therefore they are prepared to spend that money.”

A quick recovery is crucial for global aviation, one of the industries hardest hit by the pandemic as governments shut borders and the skies emptied. While travel has started picking up in most markets, some countries, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, have yet to fully open up.

China, for example, is tightening Covid-related restrictions again and discouraging citizens from flying, putting a significant dent in global tourism.

“It’s clearly disappointing that China is pursuing this Zero Covid approach,” Walsh said. The country is a very “strategically important market where a lot of airlines were looking at growth opportunities. I think airlines will be reassessing that, given the continued closure of the borders in China.”

The war in Ukraine has added another challenge for airlines, as sanctions