Business Travel Could Stage a Full Pandemic Recovery in 2024

Business travel has lagged leisure throughout the pandemic recovery as corporate road warriors – and their finance chiefs – grew content with video calls and sporadic trips into offices. 

There are signs, however, that U.S. business travelers are making their way back, albeit at a very measured pace. West Coast technology companies — long the laggards in business travel  — are also returning. 

Business travel will regain 95% of its 2019 level in 2024, up from 89% last year, the U.S. Travel Association forecast in January. However, if the U.S. economy achieves a so-called “soft landing,” with inflation slowing and interest rates easing, large tech and financial services companies may send more people out on the road.

Speaking Tuesday at an investor conference, Alaska and Delta Air Lines executives specifically cited growing travel demand by Fortune 500 member companies. The airline industry has relied heavily on leisure traffic for the past four yea