global premium airline traffic in January declined 16.7 percent

The International Air Transport Association said versus a year earlier, the eighth consecutive month of slowing global first- and business-class volumes. IATA noted that the weakest premium travel markets "continued to be those connected to Asia," while premium traffic across the North Atlantic dropped 14.5 percent. IATA added, "The fact that average premium fares are falling faster than discounted economy fares on some markets, e.g. within Europe, is a measure of how severe the downturn in business travel has become."