This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: IN AMERICA - IN THEATRES NOVEMBER 26 Fox Searchlight Pictures proudly presents IN AMERICA directed by Academy Award(R) Nominee Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot and In The Name of the Father). IN AMERICA stars Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine and Djimon Hounsou. For more info: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/inamerica \----------------------------------------------------------/ Airlines Race to Provide More Luxury and Comfort October 21, 2003 By JOE SHARKEY SOMEWHERE up there, people are living high. And I don't just mean on the Concorde, which pierces the stratosphere and is due to make its last trip this week when British Airways retires the supersonic fleet. (Air France retired its Concordes in May.) The Concorde mystique was built on speed - New York to London in just over three hours, for example. It was renowned for service. A Concorde flight on either airline was essentially a sumptuous three- to three-and-a-half-hour meal. But the Concorde did not really sell comfort. A Concorde cabin is nine feet wide, with two somewhat narrow leather seats on either side of an aisle. Now, as the Concorde is about to disappear as a standard measure of top-shelf trans-Atlantic travel, we're going to be hearing a lot more about premium comfort, as well as premium service, if not speed. It will be coming from an impressive lineup of international carriers that have cumulatively spent about $1 billion in the last year or so to bring accommodations up to airborne five-star standards in their first-class and business-class cabins. Other than as a symbol, the availability of the relatively tiny Concorde market had little to do with the run-up in front-cabin luxury. The increased luxury is occurring not only on the intensely competitive trans-Atlantic routes, but also, as SARS fears wane and Asian business travel picks up, on the long trans-Pacific routes as well. And most of the effort is in business class, where growth is anticipated. Since last month, for example, Singapore Airlines has been hauling a display mockup of its new first- and business-class cabins to 31 cities around the United States on a 53-foot trailer. Corporate travel managers have been touring the display, which has special emphasis on the business-class cabins, recently refurbished with new models of sleeper beds, at a cost of $100 million. "For us, launching this business-class bed is a cornerstone of the post-SARS corporate travel recovery program," a Singapore spokesman, James Boyd, said. Trans-Atlantic routes are the most competitive and potentially lucrative for airlines selling premium seats. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways set the modern standards for premium-cabin competition a few years ago as each tried to outdo the other with consecutive business-class improvements, especially in a battle over flat-bed seats in 2000. Last July, Virgin reignited the competition by introducing a flashy $80 million redesign of its Upper Class cabin. The centerpiece features a seat compartment that can be arranged into a kind of banquette to comfortably host a guest for drinks, or folded down into a 79.5-inch bed with a real mattress. Virgin describes its Upper Class service - whose fares, at about $7,600 for a round-trip ticket between New York and London, are roughly the same as British Airways' highly regarded Club World business class - as a combination of business and first class. The British Airways first-class round-trip fare on that route is about $11,600. British Airways responded to the Virgin move with an ad campaign touting its business-class service, and said it was planning new innovations in business class. Since the Virgin-British Airways battles began, well over a dozen major carriers, including Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines domestically, have undertaken expensive redesigns of their premium cabins, mostly in business class. Many, but by no means all, have gone so far as to eliminate first class altogether. In this scramble, airlines may be overreaching at a time when corporate travel budgets are under close scrutiny and the airline industry is still staggering. On the other hand, there is clearly an incentive to go for the money as international business travel picks up. Cebr, a London research company, said yesterday that worldwide business-class travel was expected to grow 3.6 percent on routes from the United States and 19.4 percent on Asian routes, according to Bloomberg News. Reflecting the stirring demand, business-class fares are expected to grow 2 to 3 percent in North America and 5 to 6 percent on Asia-Pacific routes, American Express said. According to a 2004 business-travel forecast by eClipse Advisors, companies are starting to reintroduce policies allowing business-class travel on long-haul flights. On trans-Atlantic flights, "product wars have upped the ante in business class" and the intense competition among carriers is encouraging many business travelers to "buy down from first or up from coach," the forecast says. According to experts I've consulted, while business-class fares might rise slightly next year, they could plunge if, as is considered possible, several domestic carriers start price wars to grab premium market share. So it's anyone's guess how much those seats will really cost going into next year. Meanwhile, does the business-class free-for-all suggest that first-class cabins are about to go the way of the Concorde? Not likely, said Anthony Tyler, the director of corporate development at Cathay Pacific Airways, which recently introduced new luxury services in both business and first class. Cathay, like British Airways, Singapore Airlines and others, says it is committed to providing a luxury service positioned beyond business class. "In this town, first class is a very important market," Mr. Tyler said in a recent interview in Hong Kong. "This is a city, remember, that has the best hotels in the world, a place where you've got a lot of very wealthy people who enjoy living first class and expect to be able to find it on an airplane." Cold financial calculations might argue against an airline maintaining top-line first-class service. Some airlines claim that first class is not worth the extra effort. "Those sorts of analyses usually show that first class is not the best way to deploy the resources, but they're wrong," Mr. Tyler said. "Sometimes in this business you've got to just put the numbers to one side and go for the cream." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/21/business/21road.html?ex=1067740828&ei=1&en=b416efb510d15e07 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company