70% of biz travellers fly low cost

More business travellers are using no-frills airlines but British Airways still remains the carrier of choice.

Research from the latest Barclaycard Business Travel Survey shows that although business class travel has increased in popularity by 2% over the last 12 months, the majority of corporate travellers are still flying low cost.

Nearly three quarters (71%) of business travellers used low cost airlines in the past year, compared to 69% in 2003/04. Of those who fly low cost, 96% were very satisfied with the service and would use them again again.

EasyJet was the most popular low cost carrier for business travel, with a clear lead over rival Ryanair. 

The top five low cost airlines for business travel were:

*    EasyJet  35% (+ 1% from 2003/04)

*    Ryanair 12% (- 3% from 2003/04)

*    Bmibaby 9% (+ 2% from 2003/04)

*    Flybe 5% (not listed in the top five last year)

*    BA 4% (+ 1% from 2003/04)

The ability to manage costs (71%) and the availability of flights (26%) were cited as the main reasons why business travellers chose to fly low cost, according to the survey of 1,200 respondents.

But business travellers did have reservations about choosing low cost. The main reasons for choosing not to fly low cost were:

*   Airports are not centrally located 18% (- 14% from 2003/04)

*   Poor standard of service 8% (+ 3% from 2003/04)

*   Often delayed 8% (+ 3% from 2003/04)

*   Not offered low cost by their business travel agent  6% (- 10% from 2003/04)

*    Not stated/Do travel low cost for business 57%

The overall top five favourite airlines for business travel were:

*    BA (43%)

*    Virgin (7%)

*    EasyJet (6%)

*    KLM (4%)

*     BMI-Baby (3%)

BA increased its lead by 8% with 43% of business travellers saying it was their favourite airline for business travel in 2004/05, compared to 35% in 2003/04. BA remains business travellers’ airline of choice for the fourth year running. 

This rise was reinforced by BA’s popularity with larger companies, helping the airline secure its position as market leader. While 35% of companies with £100 million or more in turnover chose BA as their airline of choice for business travel in 2003/04, this increased to more than half (52%) in 2004/05. 

Virgin Atlantic increased its popularity amongst all business travellers from 4% to 7%, moving up from fifth to second place.  

Business class air travel has seen a slight growth of 2% in the last 12 months, due to the following reasons: 

*   Provides a better service (14%)

*   Better for working (12%)

*   Company policy (11%)

*    More flexible (10%)

*    Their position merits it (4%)

The top five favourite airlines for business class were:

*    BA (35%)

*    Virgin (8%)

*    Emirates (3%)

*    KLM (3%)

*    Singapore Airlines (2%)

Barclaycard Business head of card issuing Tim Carlier said: “Low cost airlines have made a concentrated effort to be seen as a credible option in the business air travel market, but in the last 12 months business class providers have regained some of their market share.”

Report by Phil Davies