DUBAI: Business travel is likely to suffer for a couple of years according to a senior Qatar Airways executive.
Chief Commercial Officer Thierry Antinori told an event organized by aviation consultancy CAPA that premium travel would take time to recover amid cost cutting by companies.
Business class travel had been a strong growth market for airlines before the onset of the pandemic with Gulf carriers especially investing heavily in super-luxurious seats aimed at capturing high-flying executives.
But the rapid growth of video conferencing over the last year and cost-cutting by corporations has decimated the premium travel segment.
"Some procurement departments or some CFO's may use the opportunity of the crisis to cut costs without thinking too much of the top line so to save a couple of thousand dollars on one trip you may expose 5 or 10 percent of your top line," Antinori told the virtual event on Wednesday. "But that is very often what some companies are doing - so because of that and because of more time needed in the MICE business to rebound, I think business travel will suffer for a couple of years."
Anticipating the likely pace of recovery in premium travel is a pressing concern for the big Gulf carriers with much of their fleet configured to accommodate business class seats.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said in a Reuters interview on Sunday that he expected business air travel eventually to return to close to pre-pandemic levels, with airlines devoting the same space to business class seats as before.
‘Business air travel will suffer for a couple of years’: Qatar Airways executive
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‘Business air travel will suffer for a couple of years’: Qatar Airways executive
- Premium travel would take time to recover amid cost cutting by companies
Saudi economy grows 4.5% in 2025 as oil, non-oil sectors accelerate
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s real gross domestic product expanded by 4.5 percent year on year in 2025, driven by strong growth in both oil and non-energy activities, official data showed.
According to flash estimates released by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics, oil activities in the Kingdom expanded by 5.6 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year, while non-oil operations and government activities rose by 4.9 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, during the same period.
The latest report aligns with an October outlook from the International Monetary Fund, which projected Saudi Arabia’s GDP would grow by 4 percent in both 2025 and 2026.
Earlier this month, the World Bank forecast that the Kingdom’s GDP is projected to expand by 4.3 percent in 2026 and 4.4 percent in 2027, up from an expected 3.8 percent in 2025.
“The main driver of real GDP growth in 2025 was non-oil activities, which contributed 2.7 percentage points, while oil activities with 1.4 pp, government activities at 0.1 pp and net taxes on products at 0.2 pp, also contributed positively,” said GASTAT.
Momentum accelerated toward year-end. Real GDP expanded 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, led by a 10.4 percent surge in oil activities, while non-oil sectors grew 4.1 percent. Government activities contracted 1.2 percent on an annual basis in the quarter.
“The main driver of growth in real GDP of the fourth quarter of 2025 was oil activities, which contributed 2.5 pp, non-oil activities contributed 2.3 pp and net taxes on products contributed 0.2 pp, while government activities had a negative contribution of 0.2 pp,” added the authority.
Saudi Arabia’s seasonally adjusted real GDP recorded growth of 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the previous three months.
In the fourth quarter, oil activities witnessed a quarter-on-quarter growth of 1.4 percent, while non-oil activities expanded by 1.3 percent during the same period.
Government activities, however, recorded a decline of 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the previous three months.
Earlier this month, a separate analysis by Standard Chartered said the Kingdom’s GDP is expected to expand by 4.5 percent in 2026, outperforming the global growth average of 3.4 percent, driven by sustained momentum in both hydrocarbon and non-oil sectors.
