Study: European corporations are shunning low cost carriers for business travel

Despite the popularity — and in some cases notoriety — of low cost carriers such as Ryanair and EasyJet in Europe, a study of the managed travel program of nine corporations there found that they were booking a relatively small portion of their travel spend with discount carriers.

The Hermes Management Consulting study, commissioned by travel-tech company Amadeus, looked at the managed travel programs in nine corporations at 11 locations in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, and Ireland, and found that just 18% of their corporate bookings, accounting for 14% of their travel spend on average, went for low cost carriers.

The booking percentages for individual corporations ranged from zero to 71.5%, according to a spokesperson for Amadeus.

“The factors that determined the percentage of total bookings which were made with LCCs were things like travel policy, and geographic proximity to airports which have LCC routes,” the spokesperson adds.

LCC opportunity looms

If corporations are truly seeking to control costs, booking more with low cost carriers seems like a great opportunity, although often executives won’t feel that they are at their productive best when flying no-frills.

And, as Amadeus notes, sometimes there isn’t a fit between low cost carriers georgraphies and schedules, and the needs of large corporations.

Amadeus’ infographic below outlines the study’s basics and some ways to rein in travel costs when dealing with sometimes-policy agnostic business travelers.

It’s important to note that some of Amadeus’ conclusions are self-serving since it is a corporate self-booking tool vendor.