It turns out that jet-setting at the company’s expense has eternal appeal. Business travel can conjure up images of fancy first-class tickets to big cities or a stay at a Hilton in a small town about 20 minutes from the airport. In any case, it appears that the pandemic has not eliminated the virus from corporate travel.
The brakes on business travel first came on when COVID-19 arrived, as lockdowns and restrictions on international travel were implemented. Zoom took off while planes were grounded, as the video conferencing company went from 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019 to 300 million a few months later in April 2020.
As lockdown was lifted, some looked forward to vacationing again (to the point where the term “revenge travel” was coined), but corporate travel was slow to pick up. Its slow return has raised questions about whether business travel is at the end of an era. Maybe Zoom and remote work meant there was no longer a need to leave the house, let alone the country, to truly connect with others.
“Companies will not support non-essential travel if the proposed work can be done virtually,” said Brian Bloom, vice president of global benefits and mobility operations at Korn Ferry, in 2021. And while bosses sought to cut costs by eliminating travel, Workers also did not want to risk their health. In 2021, only a quarter of people over 55 felt comfortable traveling for work, even after being vaccinated, according to an IBM survey of 15,000 global participants.
But, years later, it seems that business demand has not died, but has merely dozed off a bit. And the airlines confirmed this. Alaska Air reported a return to pre-pandemic levels of business travel, with sales to corporate accounts soaring 22% in the first quarter. Delta and United reported 14% increases in first-quarter revenue, with a United executive noting that the company recorded nine of the top 10 corporate booking days in its history this year. This follows the recovery in 2023, when air travel increased to 94% of 2019 levels, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that business travel isn’t still experiencing increasing difficulties. A 2023 Deloitte report concluded that while the recovery is underway, the trend “likely faces limited upside,” in part due to the cost of flights and sustainability mandates.
Still, the return of corporate travel is happening in the context of a years-long campaign to return to pre-pandemic ways of working, as big names in technology and finance push for an all-in-person week. One of the main talking points for those who suggested returning to office work was that it would create better connections, a similar talking point that arises when it comes to the merits of traveling to meet with clients in person.
It appears the mindset is slowly gaining traction, as a 2023 study from the Global Business Travel Association projected that business travel spending will surpass pre-pandemic levels of $1.4 trillion this year and rise to nearly $1. .8 trillion by 2027. After Omicron and other outbreaks, global business travel began to take hold again in 2022, according to the trade group.
“The headwinds that were expected to impact the recovery of global business travel last year have not materialized and that is good news,” said Suzanne Neufang, CEO of Global Business Travel Associate, in a statement last year to Fortune Chris Morris. “This latest forecast now indicates an accelerated return to pre-pandemic spending levels sooner than anticipated, as well as future growth in the coming years.”
As the increasingly imminent recession remains unannounced and executives continue to tout the benefits of in-person work, the company card has begun to melt. It appears that the floodgates, or airlocks, are starting to open again.
