Ally

The growing appeal of business aircraft travel in the US is eroding the number of high-fare business passengers on scheduled airlines, according to a new analysis.

"The best-paying passengers on US airlines have dropped by almost half in the last five years, often to the benefit of business aviation," said the Washington DC-based Velocity Group.

The growing acceptance of business aircraft, the expansion of fractional ownership and pre-paid on-demand charter card programmes and a "continued rise in the airline 'misery' index have driven a steady expansion in the number of higher-yield travellers using business jet and turboprop aircraft," said Velocity Group partner Gerald Bernstein. He added:

"There are approximately 13 million one-way trips taken annually on business aircraft. The share of trips using these aircraft is now almost one-third that of airline high-yield trips."

The analysis also reveals the number of higher-yield trips has fallen. "Despite a rise in total airline passenger trips, the number of higher-yield trips has declined from almost 80 million to 41 million since the year 2000; 20 million have been lost in the past two years alone," Bernstein said.

He added:

"It's tough for most airlines to make a decent profit with 85% of passengers flying on discount fares."

Report by David Wilkening

(Travelmole)