Business travel bookings for fall signal a ‘blockbuster season’ for airlines

U.S. companies are overlooking uncertainty about the economy and booking fall trips at nearly six times last year’s rate after a flat summer for business travel, according to an analysis.

While demand is climbing, average booked fares were down 23% to $419 in August from $543 in mid-May, travel manager TripActions said in a new report. That was about $10 cheaper than in August 2019.

The statistics may help dispel concerns that corporations will cut budgets just as business travel is recovering from a collapse during the coronavirus pandemic, and that such trips won’t pick up after Labor Day, as they have historically. United Airlines Holdings Inc. said this week that leisure bookings have remained unexpectedly strong since the traditional end of the summer travel season.

“Autumn is shaping up to be a blockbuster season for business travel,” TripActions said. “There’s no question that the enthusiasm for hitting the road has returned.”

The trends are “far from settled,” the company cautioned, and “new wrinkles are likely to appear.”

More: Related stories about air travel and the North Texas-based airlines.

Separately, leisure fares for domestic and international travel during the upcoming winter holidays are expected to be at their highest in five years, travel booking app Hopper said in a report released Monday. More than half of Americans plan to travel for one or both of the holidays this year, it said, with 70% planning to visit family or friends.

Spending on business travel rose 27% in August over July, and is projected to jump 30% in September from August, TripActions said.

The average number of daily trips booked per company also has climbed, with the volume at large corporations rising 24% versus 2019, or an average 3,300 additional bookings a year. Team travel increased 73% in August from July.

Executives are also mixing business and leisure travel more. Since the onset of the pandemic, TripActions has seen a marked shift in business trips that include a weekend. In 2019, 31% of business trips included a weekend. Now, that share has grown to 35%.

Planned business trips within the European Union rose 24% in August from July, and fares within Europe dropped 47% to $259 at the end of August from $382. The average price during August was $10 less than the same month in 2019, according to TripActions.

Domestic round-trip fares at Thanksgiving will average $350. That’s 22% higher than in 2019 and up 43% from 2021, according to Hopper.

Prices for domestic Christmas trips are averaging $463 round trip, 31% above 2019 and 39% higher than last year. International fares for the December holiday have risen to $1,300, up about 68% from 2021, when the omicron coronavirus variant suppressed travel demand, Hopper said.

Mary Schlangenstein, Bloomberg