The growth of one way fares will help push down the cost of corporate travel, TravelpoolEurope (TPE), says in its new newsletter, Perspectives.
But the consortium, which runs a centralised travel buying system for its member firms, also warns there are "potential problems" for companies using them.
These include possible damage to deals with airlines, agencies charging two transaction fees for booking such fares and corporate online booking tools which are incapable of displaying one-way and return fare options alongside each other.
The most recent advance on one-way fares was their introduction by SAS in September on all three of its short-haul classes.
TPE said this was a move which had been "greeted positively" by travel managers, quoting Yves Galimidi, global travel purchaser for IKEA–IMS who said: "This is a great move. We had been pushing this issue with SAS for more than a year. It will bring down our average ticket price."
TPE said the SAS model also enabled passengers to switch classes and was "transparent and easier to understand" than the previous, complex pricing rules. But TPE also warned that airlines might not recognise the use of its published fares as contributing to any volume target set by a deal.
It added that the ability to mix and match could also “encourage travellers to fly whichever airline is offering the best fares on the day instead of the preferred supplier.”
But Mr Galimidi said he thought the second was unlikely to happen. "The one-way fares will make it easier to concentrate everything with SAS.
"Before, we had to use other suppliers as well because they were cheaper."
TPE said a second handicap was that "most, if not all corporate online booking tools"
were incapable of displaying one-way and return fares options alongside each other, meaning two searches had to be made.
TPE quoted Yves Weisselberger, ceo of KDS, as saying: "You can ask our system for one-way fares, but if you ask for a return trip, it will not appear on the same screen.
"With the simplification of fares accelerating, we have noticed this is becoming an important question to look at, so we will work on it."
TPE also said that some agencies might think that booking two one-way tickets amounted to two transactions and therefore two fees.
* KDS has informed that it does indeed now have a feature in KDS Corporate which allow travellers to display fares for one way fares even when asking for a return.
Yves Weisselberger, ceo of KDS, told BTE: "KDS's enhanced faring engine is already enabling corporations to take advantage of one way fares even on return trips. These fares were until now difficult to book on SBT. KDS has been the first SBT to offer this new airline faring model to its customer."