It turns out there's a timeless appeal to flying jets for company money. When you think of business travel, you may conjure up images of luxurious first-class flights to major cities or staying at a Hilton in a small town about 20 minutes from the airport. In any case, it seems the pandemic hasn't put an end to company travel.
The coronavirus outbreak put the brakes on business travel for the first time, with lockdowns and international travel restrictions introduced. As planes stalled, Zoom took off, and the video conferencing company's daily meeting participant count went from 10 million in December 2019 to 4 in 2020. In the month he became 300 million people.
While some people were itching to go on holiday again once lockdown was lifted (a surge that led to the term “revenge travel”), corporate travel was slow to take off. The slow return of tourists also raised questions about whether business travel is the end of an era. Maybe Zoom and remote working mean you no longer need to leave your home, much less the country, to truly connect with others.
Brian Bloom, Korn Ferry's vice president of global benefits and mobility, said in 2021 that “companies will not support non-essential business travel if the proposed work can be done virtually.” Ta. And while bosses were trying to cut costs by eliminating business travel, workers weren't willing to risk their health either. As of 2021, only a quarter of people over 55 feel comfortable commuting to work after being vaccinated, according to an IBM survey of 15,000 participants worldwide.
However, several years later, it appears that corporate demand has not yet disappeared, but has simply been dormant for a while. And airlines have acknowledged the same thing. Alaska Airlines reported a 22% jump in corporate sales in the first quarter, with business travel returning to pre-pandemic levels. Delta Air Lines and United Airlines each reported a 14% increase in first-quarter revenue, and a United Airlines executive noted that the carrier had nine of the top 10 corporate booked days this year. Air travel rose to 94% of 2019 levels, with a recovery in 2023, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Of course, that doesn't mean business travel isn't still experiencing growing pains. Deloitte's 2023 report says that although the recovery is underway, the trend is “likely to face limited upside” due to airfare and sustainability mandates.
Still, the resumption of corporate travel comes on the back of a years-long campaign to return to pre-pandemic ways of working, as big tech and financial companies push for an all-in-person week. One of the main arguments for those who have suggested a return to office work is that it will lead to better connections, and a similar argument emerges about the benefits of traveling to meet clients in person.
This idea is gaining momentum as the Global Business Travel Association's 2023 study predicts business travel spending will surpass pre-pandemic levels of $1.4 trillion this year and balloon to nearly $1.8 trillion by 2027. It seems to be gaining momentum. , the industry group says global business travel will get back on track in 2022.
Suzanne Neufan, CEO of Global Business Travel Associates, said last year that “headwinds expected to impact the global business travel recovery over the past year have not materialized. However, this is good news,” he said in a statement. Fortune's Chris morris. “This latest forecast indicates a faster-than-expected return to pre-pandemic spending levels, with growth expected in the coming years.”
With no warning of a looming recession and executives continuing to extol the benefits of in-person work, the corporate cards are beginning to thaw. It appears as if the floodgates, or air gates, are beginning to open again.
