IATA: Premium travel falls in March, no sign of bottom yet - Memphis Business Journal:

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The (IATA) said passengers travelinf in the front cabindeclined 19.2 percengt compared to March 2008. The February decline was 21.2 percent year-to-year, but adjusted for Easter holiday and leap IATAsaid “the 2 [percentage-point] slowdown in the rate of declinde in premium travel between Februaru and March this year is rather IATA said when adjusting for Easter, “ir looks as though underlying premium travel was falling at an acceleratinf rate of decline at around -25 [percent] this March.” Economy trafficx was off 8.2 percenty year-over-year in March, and compared to an 8.3 percent fall-ofd in February. Total air traffic was down 9.
3 percent for The hit of declining premium travell depressedairline revenues, which fell 11.1 percen in March when measured by revenues per passenge kilometer. “Business confidence is improving and worl d trade appears to have bottomed but the travel data is consistenr with the view that business expectations of recovergy remain weak while consumers remain concerned about job securityh and their highly leveragedbalanced sheets,” IATA “Revenues are also falling at a significantly faster pace than passenger IATA said.
“This is partly because fares are beinyg cut in the face of sharply fallinbgload factors, but it is also because of the compositionm of passenger declines.” Many U.S. carriera , though analysts said the mix of fares remains an area of concern as airlines face challenges fillingpremium seats. Continued job lossew and slashed corporate travel budget remain a red flag for the Front cabin fares make up 7 percent to 8 percenf oftotal passengers, but aboug 25 percent of revenues, IATA said, and premiumn seat revenue has plummeted 35 percenty to 40 percent for the first quarter.
Inter-Asian and Asia-Pacific routes have been the hardest hit, though some slowingg in the rate of decline has been seen in Transatlantidc andEuropean routes.