Airline regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, has said it is unlikely that corporate travellers will be returning to the seats at the front of the aircraft as much as they did before the global recession hit.

According to its research, the authority found that many companies forced to take more austere measures with their employees by making them sit in economy or board budget airlines will be loath to once again start paying for premium seats.

Economic regulation director for the CAA, Harry Bush, said the economic downturn was responsible for significant reductions in the number of people flying in business seats. He added that the nature of corporate travel was also changed as short-haul business travellers began to fill the seats at the back of the plane.

There is already evidence of a recovery in business class, but according to Bush it is not yet clear how far the recovery will go. Even before the Lehman Brothers’ collapse, figures indicate that first- and business class travel was starting to wane. According to the CAA, in 1996 the number of business customers flying out of London choosing to seat themselves in business class was 41 per cent.

By 2007 this figure had dropped to nine per cent and by 2009 it stood at just five per cent. A shift in attitudes has not been lost on the low-cost airlines. Between London and Amsterdam, easyJet now has a quarter of the market share for those travelling on business. Rival Ryanair has around a third of the corporate market between London and Dublin.