Business Class bookings up 19% as airlines overhaul premium cabins

Brisbane, Australia, 30 July 2026 – Fresh data from Corporate Traveller, the specialist SME division of Flight Centre Travel Group, reveals a 19% increase in international Business Class bookings in the first half of 2026 (January to June), compared to the same period last year.

The growth comes as airlines around the world invest heavily in reworking their premium cabins, with new seat designs, private suites and revised fare structures rolling out across routes to and from Australia.

Tom Walley, Global Managing Director of Corporate Traveller, said the shift reflects a broader recalibration of what business class is meant to deliver.

“Business class used to be about the seat, but now it's about the whole experience – end-to-end – and the airlines know it, and they are responding to it,” said Walley.

“What we're seeing is airlines treating the front of the plane less like a status symbol and more like a genuine product line, with different tiers, different price points and different trade-offs.

“For travellers, flying Business Class is seen as a major productivity hack. The comfort and convenience buy you back the day you’d otherwise lose to jet lag, and many companies have worked out that’s cheaper than it looks on the invoice.”

Corporate Traveller's latest Travel Manager Survey asked corporate bookers to rank the airlines offering the best long-haul Business Class experience out of Australia. Emirates was the top-ranked airline, named by 72% of travel managers among their top picks, ahead of Qatar Airways (67%) and Singapore Airlines (62%).

"It's telling that the airlines topping this list are the ones that have been most aggressive about reinvesting in their cabins. Travel managers aren't rating marketing, they're rating what their travellers actually experience on board, and that's a much easier thing to prove,” said Walley.

The cabin upgrades worth knowing about

Emirates is partway through a multi-billion-dollar retrofit of its Boeing 777 fleet, moving from a 2-3-2 seat layout to a more spacious 1-2-1 configuration. The refreshed cabin began flying to Beirut on 6 January 2026 and Beijing on 1 February 2026.

On 20 May 2026, Emirates also completed its first conversion of a two-class A380 to a three-class configuration, adding 76 business seats on the Dubai-to-Birmingham route. A larger phase of the retrofit, covering 60 A380s and 51 777s, begins in August 2026.

For travellers, it means the newer, more private cabin is quickly becoming the standard experience on Emirates, rather than something reserved for a handful of routes.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines' newer business class seats, which include individual privacy doors, debuted on the airline's A330neo aircraft to Melbourne in December 2024, and now operate across multiple daily services to both Sydney and Melbourne. The rollout has continued into 2026, with the aircraft introduced on Adelaide services in April and set to expand into Brisbane later this year.

The airline is set to bring the same seat to its A350 fleet serving its London Heathrow route, as part of a retrofit beginning in 2026. Australian travellers already have access to this door-equipped seat with a well-priced, competitive carrier. They will soon see it extended to the airline's longest-haul flagship service as well.

Closer to home, Air New Zealand's nose-to-tail 787-9 retrofit entered service on 19 May 2025, introducing its "Business Premier" and "Business Premier Luxe" cabins. The Luxe option adds a closing door, larger bed and companion seating on select seats. All 14 of the airline's existing 787-9 aircraft are expected to be reconfigured by the end of 2026.

For travellers flying long-haul with Air New Zealand, that means a growing chance of a genuine privacy upgrade, rather than the standard Business Premier seat, as the fleet-wide rollout continues.

Not every change is about adding more. From 8 July 2026, Delta Air Lines began selling "Basic Business," a lower-cost fare within its existing Delta One cabin that still includes a lie-flat seat but with trade-offs such as assigned seating, a reduced baggage allowance, and no lounge access. Tickets are on sale now, with flights beginning in September.

For business travellers, it opens up the lie-flat experience at a lower cost, provided the reduced flexibility and lack of lounge access suit the trip.

Some upgrades remain on the horizon. Qatar Airways' next-generation "Qsuite Next Gen," first unveiled in July 2024, is yet to enter service, with its intended aircraft, the Boeing 777-9, delayed until at least 2027.

Singapore Airlines has also pushed back the rollout of its new business and first class suites, part of a S$1.1 billion cabin investment, from a planned 2026 debut to early 2027.

"Not every airline is moving at the same pace – it’s worth knowing that if you're planning. Some of the most talked-about seats on the market right now still aren't in the sky," said Walley.