Business class fares defy economy cabin falls on long haul international routes

A double-digit fall in international economy airfares has not been replicated in business class, with the price of a premium seat actually increasing on some routes since 2022.

Business class airfares are yet to significantly budge from the highs of post-pandemic 2022 and on some routes are even more expensive as airline customers continue to pack out premium cabins.

Data from Webjet searches, revealed travellers were paying more for business class on routes to London, Los Angeles and Athens regardless of what airline they were flying.

The figures came after a Flight Centre report showed the average cost of international economy fares was 13 per cent lower than a year ago.

In 2022, travellers could fly business class to London for $8000 with Air India but now the lowest fare available was $8773 with Asiana Airlines via Seoul.

Business class fares to Los Angeles were also much more expensive now than two years ago with the cheapest price available climbing from $5018 to $6711 with Philippine Airlines.

Some of the biggest increases were on medium haul routes with Bali-bound travellers wishing to go in style shelling out double the fare.

Webjet data showed average booking values in business class for Brisbane-Denpasar had leapt from $3112 to $6150 and from $3465 to $5372 on Melbourne-Denpasar.

Brisbane to Queenstown and Singapore were other shockers for business class travellers, with fares up from $5497 to $9267 for a lie-flat bed to Singapore and from $5711 to $6450 to Queenstown.

Qantas fares in business class were also no cheaper, climbing from $11,212 from Sydney to Los Angeles in 2022, to $15,968 this year.

Brisbane-Los Angeles was another route that had become more costly in the front of the flying kangaroo, with fares soaring from $11,939 in mid-2022 to $16,371 two years later.

There was some relief on Sydney-London, which was almost 20 per cent cheaper now for Qantas business class customers than in 2022, when the post-Covid demand for visiting friends and relatives pushed fares above $16,000 return.

Sydney-Athens was also less expensive with Qantas and partner Emirates, but overall business class travel to Greece was dearer with the cheapest fare available climbing from $9232 to $10,427.

Business class travel to Los Angeles has become more expensive in the last two years, Webjet data shows. Picture: iStock

Australian Travel Industry Association chief executive Dean Long said there were some bargains to be had in business class for those willing to fly outside of peak periods, but it was “still expensive”.

“You don’t have to pay $20,000 to get to Europe in business class anymore, you can probably get there for $10,000 to $15,000,” Mr Long said.

“It’s holding up better than economy, which is dropping every single quarter.”

He said there was undoubtedly a softening in demand for travel, which had become apparent over the Easter holiday period.

At the time, travel agents thought a sizeable dip in sales may simply be an anomaly, but now it was clear the pent-up demand for travel that was apparent post-pandemic had well and truly flushed through.

“I think we’re going to see a realignment of capacity and routes, particularly among US airlines that have flooded the Australian market with seats,” he said.

“Already this week we’ve seen Virgin pulling out of Cairns-Tokyo, which I would suggest is just the start.”

The best measure of international travel demand was the airlines’ “early bird sales” due to start rolling out in September.

Mr Long said that would indicate how strong forward bookings were looking for overseas carriers.

“If the sales are really aggressive by the likes of Emirates and Singapore who haven’t had to fight for demand since reopening, then we’ll know that there’s definitely too much capacity, and we’ll start to see reductions going into Europe,” he said.

“At the moment, the exchange rate in Europe and the US is not working in our favour, particularly in the US — everything is expensive. The only currency that’s really working for us is Japan, and of course Bali is just the gift that keeps on giving.”