Fall business travel nears 2019 levels

Business travel international flight bookings for September to November trail 2019 levels by less than 10%, the best showing since that year

A broader recovery in all air travel and the end of pandemic-related restrictions have made it easier to plan business trips, Olivier Ponti, ForwardKeys’ vice president insights, said. The data is based on reservations for major global airlines in comparison with the same period in 2019.

Key takeaways

• While the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) expects a full sector recovery in mid-2026, signs of growing demand are being seen by segments like hotels this year;
• Both airlines and hotels are seeing more travel by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), compared with large corporations;
• But climate concerns are expected to weigh on corporate travel gains, with four in 10 European and a third of U.S. companies saying they need to reduce trips per employee by more than 20% to meet 2030 sustainability targets, according to Deloitte.

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