Corporate travel payments specialist AirPlus International has reported marginal increases in both business travel spend and the number of trips taken in the first half of 2024.

Compared to the same period in 2023, European companies spent 1.7 per cent more on air travel between January and June this year, while the number of tickets booked increased by 1.6 per cent.

The company reported marginal shifts across a number of measures but no major changes in behaviour. It also noted that UEFA’s Euro 2024 football tournament in Germany had little impact on business travel activity.

Among the more noticeable developments was a shift in advance booking behaviour, where travellers bought flights, on average, 28.8 days before departure, up from 26.3 days in 2023. Female travellers booked trips almost five days earlier on average than their male counterparts – 32 days before departure versus 27.2.

The average trip length in the first half of the year was 5.8 days, down slightly from 5.9 a year prior, while the proportion of one-day trips fell from 6.8 per cent to 6.7 per cent.

“Despite adversities such as strikes and cancellations, especially at the beginning of the year, European business travellers were in the air more frequently in the first half of the year than in the previous year,” said Mads Krumhardt Enggren, CEO of AirPlus International.

AirPlus also found the number of business trips commencing on a weekend rose to 16 per cent.

“We are also seeing that the combination of business and private travel is becoming increasingly popular. Especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers, it is crucial for companies to offer their employees flexible working models in order to increase their satisfaction and productivity.”

Meanwhile, the proportion of business class flights taken increased from 10.8 per cent to 11.1, with premium economy bookings also growing, from 1.8 to 2 per cent, while economy trips dropped from 87.2 to 86.8.

AirPlus speculated those changes could be due to an increase in long-haul trips, with the proportion of trips within Europe falling slightly from 52.7 to 52.2 per cent of bookings processed. Flights from Europe to other continents, meanwhile, increased from 15.6 per cent to 16.1 per cent.

The report also observed minimal movement in airfares, with the average economy class ticket increasing 1.5 per cent to €526. In contrast, the average business class fare fell 2.1 per cent to €3,784.