The number of business travellers using low cost carriers (LCCs) grew by 33% in the past year.
A new survey by corporate services company Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) said flights on budget carriers now accounted for 12% of the UK business travel market.
HRG's air trends survey said the rise in the use of LCCs had allowed these carriers to raise prices by 10%.
But their impact has also forced traditional airlines to cut their economy fares by 5%.
The survey said the "heightened competition across the airline industry has kept overall average price increases below those seen in previous years despite an increase in the number of travellers."
But the competition had little effect on business class fares which rose by 4% despite a "marginal change" in the number using this class.
The survey said that easyJet, one of the major carriers used by business travellers now had 20% of the market on some routes.
But the survey also found that easyJet was one of the most expensive of the LCCs with fares of up to £100 return on routes like London-Edinburgh and London-Amsterdam.
Mike Platt, HRG's Group Industry Affairs Director, said: "During the last year we have booked over 90,000 flights on low cost carriers and we are seeing more businesses choose this option for domestic and some short haul flights.
"It is also interesting to see business class ticket prices increasing by almost 4% despite ticket sales remaining static, reflecting the airlines' confidence in the popularity of the business class cabin.”
HRG said that the competition from the LCCs had forced a drop of 4% in the economy class share of the market to 59%.
First, business and premium economy now accounted, respectively for 0.3%, 28% and 0.8% of the market.
The survey also noted a substantial growth in booking for Far East and Australia (a 30% rise), the Middle East (28%), Africa (23%) and South America (12%).
Mr Platt said: "With such steep increases in bookings it is no surprise to see that ticket prices have risen on the most popular routes."
* HRG's survey was compiled from flights taken and fares paid by an "indicative sample" of more than 250,000 business travellers booking in the UK between May 2006 and July 2007.