Global private jet business travel booking numbers for the
first quarter of 2021 reached 76 per cent of 2019 levels, according to Air
Charter Service (ACS). The broker said that the recovery of business travel is
progressing to such an extent that bookings could increase beyond its prediction
of eventually returning to 85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by the end of
2021.
The company said that business bookings before the start of
the pandemic in 2020 were at their highest in the company’s history but dropped
to 27 per cent of 2019 levels in April 2020.
Andy Christie, ACS’ group private jets director, said: “At
the start of this year, we predicted that numbers would return to approximately
85 per cent of the levels of business travel bookings that we saw during
‘normal’ times in 2019. However, looking at Q1 figures, it is clear that we are
actually on track to exceed this prediction.
“‘Zoom fatigue’ is a real thing and clients are realising
that Zoom is just not the same as face-to-face business meetings. We expect
that non-essential meetings will not take place as often as they used to but
business travel will continue to improve in 2021, as soon as restrictions on
quarantine are eased and vaccines distributed more widely.”