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General News
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2009-02-19 01:02:02-05
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Business travel drops 2.8% in 2008
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Air passengers traveling on premium tickets fell 13% in December 2008 and 2.8% for the year, according to a report Wednesday from trade organization IATA (International Air Transport Association). The December drop came after an 11.5% decline in November 2008 and is caused by the sudden slow down in business activity and international trade across the world.
The organization's figures shows Asia with the biggest drops in premium travel (first & business class) despite the epicenter of the current down turn originating in the West, mostly due to the importance of international trade & finance in driving business travel. In the Far-East premium travel was down 25.1% in December, fell 19.7% across the Pacific and was down 17.3% on Europe-Far East airline routes. Only African markets show any signs of growth. Within North America, premium traffic dropped 7.7% in December 2008.
Economy travel in December went down 5.3%, which was a slightly less than the 6 percent decline in November 2008. The organization said holiday trips at this time of the year could well have been pre-booked before the full extent of the recession was apparent so a further fall in economy travel numbers should be expected in January. The group expects even weaker numbers in the first few months of 2009.
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