Ryanair focuses on the business clientele, which is very profitable. A paradoxical objective for one of the lowest cost airlines on the planet but clearly stated today.
In fact, the airline has signed an agreement with SAP Concur that offers Concur Travel, the number one travel management and expense reporting platform for business travel.
Concur Travel customers will now have access to Ryanair’s 3,300 daily flights to 230 destinations in 36 countries.
“These agreements demonstrate Ryanair’s commitment to business travelers and corporate travel managers,” said Paul Dear, regional vice president of supplier services EMEA, SAP Concur.
“This exciting new partnership means corporate customers can now access Ryanair’s industry-leading low-fare route network and connections to key cities across Europe with scheduled morning and afternoon flights to ensure quality travel. Convenient, low-cost business through the market-leading online booking. Concur Travel tool, as well as a dedicated Concur TripLink booking feed on the Ryanair website/app,” we can read in a press release.
Quality of service
The question now is whether the quality of service offered by Ryanair will match the standards demanded by business customers and whether companies will give in to the lure of low prices to allow their employees to travel.
According to figures published last October by the IFTM barometer (Top Résa fair) and Epsa, a company specialized in optimizing the performance of companies and public actors, business trips should generate a turnover this year of 28.5 billion euros in France, or 95%. of the expenditure recorded in 2019.
But this rebound is mainly due to inflation in all components of business travel: plane tickets, train tickets, hotels, etc. Inflation of +15% is estimated.
In reality, the volume of trips is still significantly lower: -20% compared to before Covid, the company emphasizes.
“One trip in five has been definitively replaced by videoconferencing or completely eliminated,” says the IFTM-Espa barometer.
This trend is driven in particular by the desire to decarbonize travel presented by companies. “More impactful decarbonization actions should lead to a moderate increase in spending: a certain plateau effect could be felt” in 2024, we can read.
Before Covid, companies opted for the plane for a trip of more than 2 hours, now the change occurs from a trip of 3 hours 45 minutes.
Source: BFM TV
