Price cuts aimed at filling empty airline seats mean that flying business class is no longer a luxury that can be afforded only when the company is paying.
Swiss International Air Lines is selling upgrades to flat-bed berths for $460, while Singapore Airlines has halved the price of business tickets that are bought with air miles. British Airways has offered two premium seats for the price of one.
First-class and business-class travel fell 21 percent worldwide in June from the levels a year earlier, or three times as much as economy class, according to industry data. That has eroded the prime source of profit at carriers like British Airways, which got 45 percent of its revenue last year from premium travel that accounted for only 13 percent of the seats it sold.
‘‘There are more promotions than ever, fare wars left and right, and you can use your air miles in ways we’ve never seen before,’’ said Matt Bennett, founder of FirstClassFlyer.com, an online newsletter based in Monterey, California.
‘‘What’s bad for airlines is great for the traveler. Their pricing structure is under siege.’’ Filling seats through discounts is risky, said Stephen Furlong, an analyst with Davy Stockbrokers based in Dublin.
Cheaper dealsmay erode the exclusivity of premium-class travel and business fliers may switch en masse to the cheaper fares, hurting overall revenue.
While the fall in premium traffic in June eased from a 24 percent drop in May, the improvement came at the expense of a steeper decline in revenue, which fell 41 percent in the second quarter as fares shrank.
At Singapore Airlines, the exclusivity of premium-class travel ‘‘used to be sacred,’’ Mr. Bennett said. Now, the airline has offered its 76-centimeter, or 30-inch, business seats, which are among the widest in the industry, at a 50 percent discount when they are paid for with air miles. The deal has featured 25 destinations this year, with about half a dozen qualifying in any given month.
The discounting is a response to the economic slump, and the company’s strategy is to remain a premium, fullservice carrier, a spokesman, Nick Ionides, said by e-mail.
‘‘That doesn’t mean we are averse to adapting to changing market trends,’’ he said.
Until Aug. 31,Swiss, a unit of Deutsche Lufthansa, is offering an upgrade from coach to business class for 500 Swiss francs, or $460, on flights from Zurich to New York and 700 francs to São Paulo.
That is less than 10 percent of the full business fares of 5,544 and 8,073 francs.
‘‘Our business class isn’t empty, exactly, but there’s plenty of space, even when economy is overbooked,’’ a spokesman, Jean-Claude Donzel, said by telephone. ‘‘If we can persuade some people to move up, we can sell more economy tickets.’’ British Airways introduced its firstever two-for-one offer in May for selected departures between June and October.
The deal is still available to people booking from the United States using a BA Visa credit card.
The carrier is also offering online upgrades that allow travelers to shift from premium economy to business class or from business to first class at prices starting from £399, or $661.
To be eligible, tickets must have been booked at least 14 days in advance and no longer be for sale, and upgrades will be offered ‘‘tactically’’ — on certain flights only—aspokeswoman, Amanda Allan, said by e-mail. A business-class return ticket from London to New York normally costs £1,986, or £1,170 more than premium economy, she said.
BA’s chief executive officer, Willie Walsh, told shareholders last month that business travel might never fully recover from the global economic slump, which would threaten the airline’s ‘‘long-term viability’’ unless it cut at least 4,000 jobs.
Three years after spending £100 million on revamping its business class, the carriermay rip outsomeof thenewseats if demand does not pick up, he said.
‘‘We don’t think that these offers erode our business model or yields, because it is about giving customers an experience and stimulating travel,’’ said Ms. Allan, the spokeswoman. ‘‘We make it affordable for customers to upgrade and hope they like it so much that they come back.’’ In the United States, carriers generally rely less on long-haul premium travel because of the greater proportion of domestic flights, and discounting is not so extensive.
Airlines are also increasingly providing free upgrades to first class when passengers pay the full business fare.
‘‘We used to see that occasionally on the softest of routes in the low season,’’ said Mr. Bennett of FirstClassFlyer.
‘‘Now it’s everywhere all the time.’’ Other carriers are seeking to limit the damage from the desertion by business travelers who move down to coach class by expanding premium-economy cabins.
While cheap upgrades, heavy discounting and no-frills business seats may help airlines fill the fronts of their planes, carriers face a delicate balancing act to avoid permanently damaging demand for premium tickets.
Sabine Pirone reported from London.
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