Business demand for air travel in the third quarter of 2023 increased 6% compared to the same period last year, according to a study by the company Aeroclub. Overall, in the first nine months of 2023, demand for domestic flights among business tourists was 13% higher than last year’s figures.
Demand for business class travel increased 19% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. Due to increased demand, the proportion of business class increased from 3% to 4%.
At the same time, as the study shows, the average cost of business class airline tickets decreased by 12%. A one-way flight costs an average of 84.5 thousand rubles. At the same time, economy class prices increased year on year by 7%, the average cost of a flight was 14.3 thousand rubles.
The most popular cities in the field of business tourism remain Moscow and St. Petersburg. Also in the top 10 are Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Samara and Nizhny Novgorod.
In addition to the increase in the number of flights and the reduction in ticket prices, the company has identified another trend: an increase in the planning horizon. Thus, the proportion of plane tickets purchased a week before departure decreased by 4% in the third quarter of the year, from 46% in 2022 to 42% this year.
At the same time, the proportion of tickets purchased two weeks or more before departure increased from 34% to 36%.
Who flies most often on business trips?
Representatives of the mining, manufacturing and energy industries traveled more than others on business trips, but the number of airline tickets purchased in the third quarter of the year decreased by 14% year-on-year. Thus, its participation decreased from 41% to 33%.
Retail representatives took business trips 27% more often in the third quarter than a year earlier. Their share increased by 3% and amounted to 15%.
Representatives of IT and telecommunications companies also increased the number of business trips. In the third quarter, growth was 23% year-on-year and participation increased from 8% to 10%.
Aeroflot remains the most popular airline. Served more than half (52%) of all business travelers in the third quarter. Of those, 5% flew in business class.
In second place is S7, the services of this company were used by 20% of business tourists. Of them, 3% chose business class. In third place is the company Pobeda, with a 6% share.
Author:
Natalia Gormaleva
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
