German business travellers are taking longer trips and buying more business class tickets than they did before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to research from corporate payment specialist AirPlus International.

AirPlus’s figures for airline ticket transactions showed a strong increase in demand from German travellers during the first half of 2022, with invoicing volume in June only 10 per cent lower than in June 2019.

The AirPlus Business Travel Index also identified how trends have changed in the past three years, with the length of business trips by Germans rising from an average of five days in 2019 to 6.3 days this year.

This increase in duration was even more pronounced for international trips from Germany, which rose from an average of 11.6 days in 2019 to 14.5 days in 2022. Meanwhile, the proportion of one-day trips fell from 17 per cent to 7 per cent over the same period.

AirPlus also identified an increase in German organisations booking business class air travel, which increased from 9 per cent in 2019 to 13 per cent this year. This was particularly true on domestic flights where the percentage of business class bookings rose from 5 per cent in 2019 to 12 per cent this year.

The study found that some pre-Covid behaviour had started to “return to normal”, such as the lead-in time for bookings. The average booking-to-departure period rose from 16.3 days in 2021 to 21.4 days this year, which compares to an average of 24 days in 2019.

“The trend toward longer business trips is an indication that sustainability is becoming increasingly important for companies,” said AirPlus CEO Oliver Wagner. 

“Employees are handling different appointments within one trip instead of shorter individual trips. They travel more consciously but like to do so with more comfort in business class. 

“Another possible explanation for the longer trips is the ‘bleisure travel’ trend, meaning the combination of a business trip with a private trip.”

Another difference from 2019 has been in the booking of certain destinations outside Europe by German business travellers – China and Russia had been ranked as the second and third most popular intercontinental destinations behind the US three years ago. 

But while the US remains the number one destination outside Europe in 2022, India and Mexico have replaced China and Russia in the top three. 

There was also a change in Europe with Spain taking over from the UK as the top destination for German travellers, as the UK slipped to second place.

“Overall, we observe a strong need among companies to catch up on all the face-to-face encounters that could only take place virtually in the past two years,” added Wagner. 

“Thanks to the easing of the Covid restrictions, companies now have more planning certainty for their business trips again. Booking figures for the coming months indicate that the recovery in business travel will continue.”

AirPlus is part of Lufthansa Group but the company has announced that it is planning to sell the business.