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Home » British Airways » British Airways Pins Its Hopes On Premium Economy
British Airways

British Airways Pins Its Hopes On Premium Economy

Matthew Klint Posted onMarch 1, 2021November 14, 2023 10 Comments

a row of seats with monitors on the back

British Airways sees its “Word Traveller Plus” premium economy product as key to its recovery, as the United Kingdom surges past its neighbors in coronavirus vaccinations.

British Airways Sees Premium Economy Recovery

First, the bad news. British Airways does not see business travel recovery in the near future. While hardly breaking news, it marks another piece of evidence that even with wide-scale vaccination programs, business travel will be slow to return. Consequently, British Airways anticipates that demand for business and first class will remain low.

But British Airways CEO Sean Doyle noted on Friday that the short-term premium market will concentrate on premium economy:

”We are increasing the number of seats that are available for sale in World Traveller Plus materially and I think that plays well for the development of the market over the next couple of years.

”We do anticipate corporate travel will lag other segments like [family visits] and leisure, and World Traveller Plus is a very strong leisure product. So I think things like the retirement of the 747 has actually accelerated the development of that product mix and I think it works very well with the trajectory of recovery we anticipate.”

British Airways also announced:

  • 28% of its fleet now features the new Club World suite
    • Live and Let’s Fly reviewed the new Club World suite aboard the A350-1000
  • BA lost €3.88 billion in 2020
  • Revenue was down 70%
  • No further job cuts are anticipated
    • 9,500 positions have already been cut
  • A final decision has not been made on London Gatwick service this summer

CONCLUSION

British Airways is hardly alone in its struggles to entice customers to fly again and find the right balance of product and destinations to appeal to a cautious public not eager to rush back to flying. For now, it is focusing on premium economy, hoping to command a premium from leisure travelers unwilling to splurge for business class but wanting an upgrade from economy class.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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10 Comments

  1. Aaron Reply
    March 1, 2021 at 7:20 am

    “We are increasing the number of seats that are available for sale in World Traveller Plus”

    What does that mean exactly? They will be putting more of these seats on their planes, and if so, will they be removing seats in Business Class and/or Economy to accommodate them? Or will they just be marketing these seats better and/or offering better prices?

  2. Phil Reply
    March 1, 2021 at 8:12 am

    But for this to work they would have to offer a good Premium Economy product to start with.

  3. hp12c Reply
    March 1, 2021 at 8:16 am

    Premium economy is now called a suite? How long until the lav is marketed as a spa?

    • hp12c Reply
      March 1, 2021 at 12:53 pm

      Nevermind. Mis-read it.

  4. Sam G Reply
    March 1, 2021 at 8:55 am

    The new A350s have a big PE section and they’re utilising the 32J LGW config birds on LHR routes which also have a big PE cabin.

    Could also mean overselling and then upgrading to CW perhaps. Always been a strategy when required – I was on a summer LHR-JFK where the entire PE cabin was upgraded to CW to handle economy oversale

  5. Airfarer Reply
    March 1, 2021 at 9:34 am

    As Phil remarks, it needs to improve somewhat. The food is OK but it needs another inch or two in legroom and the same for recline to attract decent money for it.

  6. Jeff Reply
    March 1, 2021 at 10:18 am

    My assumption is that given the options of planes, they’ll likely fly the Gatwick configured ones which have a larger World Traveler Plus and smaller Club World cabin.

  7. Derek Reply
    March 1, 2021 at 11:08 am

    I could also see more business travel in PE in the future. Given the economic outlook, more businesses may not permit employees to travel in business class, but may allow for PE.

    Just increase the pitch to 40-42 inches to be competitive with Air New Zealand and Emirates and offer the meals from the business class menu and you have a very solid product

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      March 1, 2021 at 12:59 pm

      Agreed, though I think the catering was already decent.

      • Derek Reply
        March 1, 2021 at 1:55 pm

        Added dedicated lavs instead of having PE hare with economy or at times business. You’d have a product that would be good enough for the business travelers. It would basically be business class from the late 1980s.

        Let J mainly be populated by the high end leisure market, like F used to be

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