The number of passengers travelling premium class in February rose by 5.9%, compared with the same month last year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.
The airline association reported a further increase in the number of international passengers during the month including a 6.9% rise in economy travellers.
IATA said the year on year figures indicated a "strong upturn".
It said longer haul markets were recovering more quickly than short haul markets.
The Association said premium travel was now 10% up from the lows of mid-2009 but had still not recovered to the early 2008 levels.
It added: "Back in early 2009, when the premium travel market had shrunk by around one quarter, the justifiable fear was that this was a structural, permanent loss.
"However, as world trade growth returned so has premium travel.
"There is still some way to go before premium travel recovers previous highs but the decline looks to have been cyclical and we are now moving into the upturn phase of the cycle."
On the crucial North Atlantic route, premium travel was up 4.2% in February compared to the same month in 2009.
Europe to the Middle East was up 11.6% while Europe to the Far East was up 3.6%.
But premium traffic within Europe dropped by 3.7%.
www.iata.org