Premier Middle East carriers like Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline
are striving hard to continue to offer first class cabins to their
premium travelers. However, even as the airlines have upgraded their
offerings, recent data released by the Centre of Aviation or Capa has
shown that first class air travel is constantly on the decline.
Recent reports said that Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline have
innovated new luxury travel concepts. Flying bedrooms have been
introduced by airlines hoping to catch travelers’ fancy. Such bedrooms
are akin to the ones found in a hotel or a luxury yacht.
The reports said that Etihad Airways in May this year began offering
premium travel experience to its customers. The airline introduced
business studios, apartments and private suites on its aircraft.
Emirates Airline has also decided to emulate Etihad’s premium travel
offering. The airline is planning to introduce new “bedroom concept”.
The data released by Capa pointed out that the London Heathrow-New York
JFK route continues to the most popular among first class travelers in
the world. The travelers were offered 159 first class seats on an
average per day between May 12 and May 18. This route in fact offered a
total of 1,116 weekly seats in first class.
The study by Capa further said that American Airlines removed its first
class cabins on its Boeing 777-200 aircrafts fleet. According to the
data, that airline flew 560 first class passengers on its 35 weekly
flights on London Heathrow-New York JFK route in May 2012 as compared to
168 seats on its 21 weekly flights in May 2014.
In yet another data released by IATA, the premium first class traffic
also showed sharp decline in recent months with China demand on the
wane. The Middle East sector only performed solidly on this front. The
data also outlined that there was a slowdown in premium travel in March
this year. The IATA report citing the Middle East performance disclosed
that tourism and economic growth had accelerated in this region thus
proving that it continues to be among the strongest markets for air
travel in the world.
The reports concluded that the premium offerings are being constantly
being reviewed by various airlines world over. The first class cabins
are being sustained by only few airlines. The Capa report pointed out an increasing trend of more business class lie-flat seats is being seen,
with first class air travel demand shrinking.
