A sharp rise in the number of passengers travelling business class was reported by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) today (August 16).
In its monthly Premium Traffic Monitor, it said figures for June were 16.6% higher than for the same month in 2009.
It also said there was an increase in economy passengers of 9.5% compared with last year.
IATA said strong business travel was driving both sets of figures.
The Association said the rises were a "little weaker" than May whose figures included a backlog of flights form cancelled services in April due to the volcanic ash cloud.
IATA said premium travel was now expanding by 9% a year and economy at 6%.
It said it estimated that airline revenue was up 40% in June compared to the same month last year.
"This is not only due to the improvement in the number of passengers, but it is also driven by a strong rise in the average fare and yield supported by tighter supply-demand conditions," it said.
One of the major pluses for carriers was that premium travel within Europe rose in the month by 26.9% compared with 2009 while premium traffic on the lucrative North Atlantic route increased b7 y 18.8%.
IATA also reported increase of 8.8%, 4.6% and 3.8% respectively on routes form Europe to, respectively, the Far East, the Middle East and Africa.
Commenting on the rise in business travel IATA said: "Coincident indicators like world trade have been very strong, rising 18% in May and supporting similar growth in premium travel.
"Forward-looking indicators such as business confidence have been similarly positive.
"However, there has been some slippage in recent months which is consistent with expecting some deceleration in year-on-year travel growth rates in the second half of this year."
www.iata.org