Hong Kong, Sept. 12 -- Business class cabins, crucial to airline profitability, are taking to the air almost empty. The critical question for carriers is will premium class demand return to past levels after COVID-19 eases? Can corporate travellers, having spent months using social media tools such Zoom, Skype and Microsoft Teams, be lured back?
The threat of online internet communication to airlines is nothing new, but some observers believe this time around returning business class traffic to the glory days of 2019 is going to be more challenging than in previous industry crises.
"Whether we see a recovery to pre-crisis business travel patterns remains to be seen," said International Air Transport (IATA) chief economist, Brian Pearce, i...