Regional Airline Restructuring Part 3: Will new business aviation models win premium air travellers?

Frequent flyers will attest to the fact that flying, whether airports or airlines and what comes in between, is mostly an unpleasant by-product of business travel.

And it promises to get worse as we head to the top of the next business cycle, according to U.S. Travel Association (USTA) studies. For those reasons and more, business aviation, having developed new business models and narrowed the gap with commercial fares, is able to cherry pick premium and full-fare travellers from airlines.

Airlines have spent billions of dollars improving business and first cabins, updating lounges and terminals, providing fast tracks through security and generally upping their game with additional amenities such as lie-flat seats. Some are providing luxury car gate-to-gate connections.

This report, Part 3 in our survey of US regional airline restructuring, looks at the movement to substitute business jet and other premium products at the business end of the market. But there may be lessons to be learned for other regions.