Wealthy Indians booking business class flights more than before

The economic situation in India has vastly improved, and it’s soaring with each passing day. This is evident and abundantly proved with wealthier Indians purchasing business class tickets on international flights more than ever before. This can also be analyzed from the fact that Indian corporate have expanded their business interests at a frenetic pace globally, and are therefore keeping their senior officials happier by spending on premium air travel.

A recent study revealed that business class bookings have significantly increased by up to 75 percent. The study was essentially a year-on-year comparison taking into account each month starting from January onwards. The study said that India is currently witnessing a tremendous growth in its economy, and is in fact the fastest growing among major economies. The corporate activity has therefore increased thus leading to a huge growth in corporate travel as well.

The study said that Middle East carriers such as Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways have benefited in a big way with the increase in business class flights bookings because of their top-notch services and amenities. Among other major international carriers which reported increase in the sale of business class tickets to Indian customers include Germany’s flagship carrier Lufthansa and UK’s national carrier British Airways.

According to the travel industry experts, the past few years have been particularly good for India. The capacity in premium travel segment has gone up manifold with more and more people taking to travel in business class cabins. This has been primarily because of the supply-demand mismatch. The most popular sectors for business class travel were mid-haul and long-haul, involving flight duration of five to nine hours.

The international air passenger traffic in India currently stands at nearly 55 million annually. There are about 60 domestic and foreign carriers transporting international passengers in and out of India. The country presently has seven major carriers out of which four carriers operate international flights to/from India. However, India’s national carrier Air India and second-largest privately-owned Jet Airways sell business class tickets most.