1. Will a trip be made at all?
For many firms today, the cost of travel is a major item of corporate
expense. In a recessionary period, firms will attempt to reduce expenditure
in order to minimise the effect of recession on corporate profitability or, in
extreme cases, to stave off bankruptcy. In such a situation, executives
might present a case to their boss that a business trip should be undertaken,
only to find that the necessary expenditure is not sanctioned. Instead, they
are told to use, say, the phone, email or video-conferencing as a way of
conducting the business in question. In such a situation the true
“Customer” for the airlines might be the firm’s CEO or VP-Finance.