Figures show that since the pandemic, business travellers have declined by 3.9 million (29 per cent) between 2019 and 2023. Business passengers are often willing to pay far more for air travel than leisure passengers, and airlines are strongly “incentivised to service their needs”.
Alex Chapman, an economist at the New Economics Foundation, has warned MPs on the transport select committee that demand for business travel is declining, contrary to research commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2018, which identified the group as key for growth.
Mr Chapman called the DfT analysis “now out of date” and said that “all of the key indicators, from business passengers to climate, have moved against expansion”, a “fundamental problem” for the airport’s investment case.
In a speech on Wednesday (12 February), Heathrow’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye said: “A third runway is critical for the country’s future economic success, and I confirm we will submit our plans for a third runway to the government this summer.”.
However, since the early 2000s, the number of corporate air trips taken per million pounds of real GDP has halved from eight to four, according to New Economics Foundation data.
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