mumbai for airlines increase in business travel is a welcome news and february was again a good month in that regard for airlines across the globe the international air transport association iata released its premium travel monitor for february 2012 on thursday with the positive news that it had recorded an increase in business passengers for the said month that in turn boosted the proportion of premium ticket sales making it the fourth consecutive month of improvement since the lowpoint last october premium travel expanded 63 in february compared to the same month a year ago economy class travel also increased in february by 89 from a year ago well above the january result of 61 said the iata report however the yearonyear increases were given a oneoff boost of several percentage points from the arab spring a year ago chinese new year in january and carnival and the leap year in february the seasonally adjusted trend shows premium traffic picking up significantly over the last 3 months increasing at an annualized rate of 5 after experiencing no growth between may and september 2011 the trend in economy class travel has been the reverse with growth slowing to an annualized rate of 1 over the last 5 months said the report adding that economic indicators suggest that the performance of premium markets is once more being supported by improvements in the business environment with both trade activity and business confidence increasing in recent months however the continuing weakness in european economies remains a downside risk to air travel markets in the months ahead as is the threat of increasing oil prices the report added