While the first class passenger may make the odd telephone call or send a fax while sipping a glass of Krug, an increasing number of business class fliers are bringing their work on-board and are constantly demanding the very latest in technological support.

Today, more CEOs are counting airtime as work time and expecting corresponding facilities. With laptop power sources established as the minimum requirement of business passengers, airlines are looking at various other upgrades to ensure that business class travellers find their offices in-flight. Airline investment in business class facilities follows hard on the heels of vastly improved customer comforts, driven by the need for expenditure and upgrade after a quiet period in the early '90s. As a result, first and business class leisure travellers now enjoy a vastly improved environment, including fully reclined seats, a broad-range of in-flight entertainment, more comfort-zone privacy and a host of other features. The price of the ticket also goes up generating higher revues for the airline than leisure travellers. For instance, Delta Airlines estimates that 40 per cent of passenger revenues come from business class, with the average price of a ticket being two and a half times more than an economy classticket.

Accordingly, the Delta's Businesselite was upgraded at a cool $314 million. This upgrade has added numerous features to Businesselite, including a special reading light on the seat, Empower plug-ins for computer power and individual phones. Soon, wireless Internet access will be available to Delta's business and first class customers at the gates, inside clubs, lounges and eventually on Delta aircraft.

Delta's strategy is to increase the number of seats available in premium class and offer customers a world class product equal to, and better in some respects to the erstwhile First Class at a business class price. Delta also has the vision and corporate strategy of taking their passengers from anywhere to everywhere with Skyteam, one of the largest airline alliances in the world.

Further buoyed by research which reveals that computer technology has not sounded the death-knell for business travel and that demand will continue as long as improved services are part of the package, airlines have dug deep into their corporate pockets to lure executives on board. Qantas is investigating on-board showers, creches and airborne gyms as part of a $9 billion shopping spree in which it has ordered 31 aircraft, including 12 double-decker A3XX super-jumbos. The huge aircraft would be more spacious and comfortable than those flying now. Qantas is looking at a range of customer benefits, made possible by the extra room. The additional space will not be used for passenger seating, but for additional amenities, says Qantas' deputy CEO Geoff Dixon.

A corporate travel survey by the International Air Transport Association has revealed that frequent business travellers are far more interested in power sources for their laptops than onboard telephone and fax connections. Many carriers are enhancing their premium product offerings in an effort to attract and retain high-yield customers. In doing so, the comfort gap between higher contribution customers and economy flyers continues to widen, mirroring the increasing differential between business and leisure fares.

Hooking the lucrative business traveller continues to be a priority to the airline industry and major domestic and international players are focussing on technology amenities in an effort to create an airborne office.

The business traveller is the target of every airline. First, they are a repeat traveller and to win their loyalties means that they will travel a number of times a year. Secondly, something has to be given to them to make their investment in first or business class worthwhile, which is exactly what All Nippon Airways (ANA) has on its mind. ANA passengers flying first class enjoy seats that fold out a full 180 degrees (they call it The Fullflat Seat). And if your neighbors start snoring, chances are you won't notice. There's a whopping 83'' between seats (75 inches when the seats are opened to bed-mode). British Airways has recently launched the new Club World six-foot, fully reclining bed, known as the lounge in the sky. It is becoming business as usual at 30,000'.

As the acceleration of global business transactions shows no signs of abating any time soon, no doubt a greater number of busy executives will find themselves required to work on flights, both long and short, and will continue to demand more and more facilities to do so.