Story Highlights
- Business class seats are up 143% at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport compared to 2019.
- United Airlines increased business class capacity more than other carriers.
- Airlines scheduled 3% fewer total flights compared to 2019 while prioritizing premium cabin revenue.
It’s been six years since the Covid-19 pandemic all but killed business travel in the United States, and — finally — it appears flying for work has rebounded across the country.
That’s certainly the case at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where airlines have completed or scheduled 143% more business class seats in the May 1 through Aug. 31 stretch this year versus the same period in 2019. Nationally, domestic carriers have about 27.6 million business class seats on flights scheduled through the end of August, an increase of about 7 million seats from 2019.
Business class seats now make up about 7.5% of all domestic seats in the May-to-August timeframe, up from just under 6% six years ago, according to an analysis of domestic flight data from Cirium, an aviation analytics provider.
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The renewed emphasis on business travelers comes despite a continued lag in the number of U.S. flights in the May-to-August span, a sign that U.S. airlines aim to max out revenue per flyer with more premium business-class passengers while keeping operating expenses in check. Those moves have corresponded with stubborn inflation, driven in recent months by high oil prices and related energy disruptions since the onset of the U.S. war with Iran.
Airlines have 3% fewer flights scheduled this summer compared to 2019, according to Cirium. At Sea-Tac Airport, there are 1% fewer flights over that span.
Nowhere has business travel rebounded from pre-Covid levels more this summer than at Chicago-O’Hare International Airport, where there are 600,000 more business class seats available to travelers originating out of ORD this summer compared to the summer of 2019. The difference equates to a 50% increase in business class seats originating out of O’Hare this summer versus pre-Covid.
Much of that increase stems from United Airlines, which calls O’Hare home. United this summer has more than 10,000 business class seats scheduled on routes from Chicago alone, with a particular bump in Midwest destinations including St. Louis, Indianapolis and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Other major hubs to record surges in business-class seating include Sea-Tac Airport and Denver International Airport, which both have hundreds of thousands more business class seats scheduled this summer as compared to pre-Covid levels.
Sea-Tac’s growth in business class seats is led by hometown carrier Alaska Airlines, which now has nearly a million business class seats scheduled —more than double 2019’s total.
At Sea-Tac, business class seats account for 10% of passenger seats this summer, up from just 4% in 2019.
While most U.S. airports are are on track for more business-class capacity this summer, there are exceptions. Among airports to see material declines in business-class seating are Newport News-Williamsburg Airport and Chicago-Midway.
Airlines betting on business
Beyond United’s surge at its home base at Chicago O’Hare, the airline has 7 million business class seats scheduled this summer, 2.2 million more compared to 2019.
Every other airline tracked by Cirium has boosted their business class schedules. Airlines provide cabin data voluntarily, so the data isn’t necessarily a complete picture of the situation.
Still, according to an analysis of the data, American Airlines has more than 9 million business class seats on flights scheduled this summer, an increase of about 25% from 2019.
And Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has about 8.7 million business class seats this summer, an increase of 700,000 from the summer before Covid, the smallest increase among airlines that offer business class seats.
A number of Delta flights are seeing big drops in business class seats this summer, like the carrier’s flight between and Seattle and Los Angeles. That route has 14,000 business class seats scheduled this summer, a drop of about 50% from what it had scheduled in summer 2019.