UK airline giants, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, have both announced that they have been able to push ticket prices up because of resurgence in demand. Average prices, otherwise known as yields, have risen by 14 per cent in the quarter to 30 June, according to BA boss, Willie Walsh. Steve Ridgway, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, also confirmed that yields had surged across all Virgin classes.

In a recent interview, Ridgway explained that business travel was now on the increase. He said that many companies seemed to be doing away with the strict travel policies implemented during the economic downturn and business travellers were being allowed to book costlier seats.

For the quarter ending 31 May, Virgin saw sales rise by 10 per cent to £513 million. According to Ridgway, five per cent of this jump was due to BA customers booking with Virgin instead of risking disruption caused by the airline’s ongoing dispute with cabin crew union, Unite.

Walsh claims that, had it not been for strike action and the effects of the volcanic ash cloud which grounded airlines across Europe for almost a week earlier in the year, BA’s revenues would be up by 11 per cent.

Other European airlines are also claiming that revenues are on the up. Lufthansa said that yields had increased by 7.4 per cent for the first half of the year. JLS Consulting analyst, John Strickland, said the results were extremely encouraging at a time when many factors were working against the airline industry.