Economy fares on flights within the U.S. and Canada are up 5% from 2019, but premium fares are up more. A lot more.
Prices in premium cabins are up 36%, according to Skytra, an Airbus subsidiary that compiles daily air travel price indices.
Premium cabin passenger traffic was up 28%, while economy passenger traffic was up 7%. new cabin c
Skytra's figures are generally consistent with reports U.S. airlines have been making for at least the last year about the robust state of premium demand. Just last week, Delta reported that premium demand in the third quarter outperformed the main cabin by 10 percentage points.
Airlines attribute the rise in premium travel popularity to the growth of hybrid business and leisure trips, as well as to a general surge in the popularity of high-end leisure travel during the pandemic.