Prices decreasing, miles increasing. How business travel has changed over the last 12 months

According to the latest data from AirPlus International comparing the first half of 2017 and 2018, the cost of international travel is decreasing while the number of miles travelled is increasing.

In 2017, the average cost of an international long haul flight was $3,234 compared to $3,006 in 2018. This, combined with the rise in the number of miles travelled during the same period from 233,401,933 to 307,199,805, highlights continued resilience in the corporate travel market.

Interestingly, while miles have increased, business trips on average are shorter now than in 2017; with each trip taking an average 5.2 days in 2018 compared to 5.3 days in 2017.

The time spent on planning business travel has decreased. In 2018, international long haul trips took 40.5 days to plan, compared to 42.7 days. The caveat to this is planning for domestic trips, which experienced an increase in planning time from 17.6 days in 2017 to 18.4 days in 2018.

The top three international destinations for business travellers in 2017 were the USA, China and Singapore. The same was true of 2018, but Singapore edged out China for second place.

Commenting on the findings, AirPlus International Commercial Director for the Asia Pacific, David Newington said:

“It is an interesting time for business travel. These findings show that business travel is growing with more miles travelled.

“Australian businesses are maintaining their ties with regional allies like China and Singapore and we still see very strong connections with the US. The reduced cost of international travel is enabling business travellers to go further.

“At AirPlus we are focused on making travel seamless for business travellers as we recognise the challenges they face being away from the office for extended periods of time. Virtual cards and payments via mobile phone will assist with this. We want travellers to feel at home while on the go and you only have to look at the increase in reliance on mobile phones, to see where the future of travel planning and payments is going.”