Business Travel Insights: BCD Europe Edition City and Trends

2025 EDITION Top 10 European cities About the report Top 10 intercontinental cities Business travel can be a barometer for economic growth.The rise and fall of business travel volumes reflect the leveland health of economic activity within a region orcountry.BCD’sCities & Trends 2025 Europe reportshowsthe top destinations for European business travelers withinsights into how they travel. The findings are based Top 10 countries Top 10 routes Cabin class and flight type Car rental insights Top 10 The European ranking in 2024 has mostlyremained the same as the previous year, exceptfor Stockholm jumping one spot, movingEurope’s de facto capital Brussels to 10th place. Over the past years,Stockholm Arlanda Airportunderwent significant upgrades, including anairside walkway connecting Terminals 4 and 5and a new security control facility withadvanced CT scanners. Future expansion plansfor Terminal 5 aim to increase the terminal’scapacity to accommodate up to 40 million Top 10 intercontinental cities With eight cities in the top 10, the intercontinental list is clearly led by the U.S.Dubai remains solid in third place. Although the geopolitical landscape will remain subjectto rapid change and complexity, posing concerns fortravelers and their companies, the global economy has Michèle LawleyRegional President of Europe at BCD Travel Top 10 countriesEurope Intercontinental As a mature business travel market, it’sunsurprising to see little change in the Europeancountry rankings, with Germany keeping its firstposition as the most visited European country.There are only some positional changes: Spain Italy is showing the strongest increase (21%) ininbound business travel within Europe. Itseconomic recovery, especially in the second halfof the year, has bolstered business confidence The international ranking has also remainedlargely the same with the U.S. firmly in first place.Only Qatar and Singapore swapped places.China has shown a strong rebound in travel, The expansion of airlines’ operations in Italy hasimproved connectivity, making it more convenient forbusiness travelers to reach Italian cities.Additionally,the blending of business and leisure travel, known as Edoardo PrioriManaging Director, Italy at BCD Travel Intercontinental Europe 1Amsterdam to London2London to Amsterdam3Frankfurt to London4London to Dublin5London to Frankfurt6Dublin to London7Munich to London8London to Munich9StockholmtoCopenhagen10CopenhagentoStockholm 1London to New York City2Frankfurt to Chicago3London to Los Angeles4Frankfurt to New York City5London to Chicago Top 10 routes London is the most popular arrival anddeparture hub for European flights,accounting for eight city pairs in the top For intercontinental routes, London toNew York City tops the chart.Intercontinental flights from Europemostly depart from Frankfurt andLondon, together holding nine city pairs *Top routes combine data of multiple airports for the following cities:London (Heathrow, London Gatwick and London City); Paris (Charlesde Gaulle and Orly); New York City (John F. Kennedy, Newark and LaGuardia); Shanghai (Shanghai Pudong and Shanghai). Cabin classand flight type For European flights, business travelersmostly booked economy class (92%),with only 7% flying business class.However, the breakdown for Due to relatively shorter distances, highdemand for point-to-point travel andsmaller aircraft, most European flightsare direct (85%). In contrast, only 52% ofintercontinental flights from Europe aredirect. Intercontinental travel is oftenstructured around major airline hubs. Why business travelers fly economy On intra-European flights, there are several reasons why most travelersbook economy outside of just being mandated by the travel policy.First, thedifference in comfort between business and economy is often perceived asinsignificant on short-haul flights; there aren’t typically lie-flat seats, finedining, or advanced in-flight entertainment options on short-haul flights in Olivier BenoitSenior Vice President at Advito How companies benefit from economy flights For travel managers, the return on investment is much higher on economytickets. The average business fare is twice as expensive versus theaverage economy fare for intra-European flights, and for 70% of theseflights, the duration is less than two hours.From a sustainabilityperspective, although the real carbon emissions savings in economy Olivier BenoitSenior Vice President at Advito MunichParisFrankfurtLondonStuttgartMilanAmsterdamBerlinViennaDusseldorf Car rentalinsights For 21% of all air bookings in Europe, travelersbooked a rental car with an average of fourdays. Germany leads the ranking for car rentalwith five cities in the top 10: Munich, Frankfurt,Stuttgart, Berlin and Dusseldorf. Other top 10 According to aBCD car rental surveyin 2024of more than 900 business travelersworldwide, most business travelers pick up arental car at the airport (93%), while only a few Ar