Something rather odd is happening in the aviation industry... 'no one' is flying First Class.

Essentially, business class has become so good that there is rarely much of a point of difference to First (apart from the chunk of change), and those who value ultimate luxury have started buying private jets.

We are exaggerating a little with the above paragraph. It's not true that absolutely no one is flying First, but it is clear that airlines themselves have fallen out of love with First Class.

Is First Class still popular?

Back when commercial air travel first took off (pun not intended), First Class was the only option. Flying was seen as the ultimate luxury, with more affordable options being train or boat travel on the ground. Then coach was created as a way for air travel to become accessible to the masses. Then airlines created business class, for the mid-level executive who needed to fly refreshed, but who was not the CEO.

A real game changer for the class was when British Airways introduced its lie-flat seats in 1995. This made First Class truly the ultimate way to travel, with passengers able to fly and sleep comfortably on board. But as we all know, business class followed with their own lie-flat seats soon after.

Airlines have attempted to revitalize first class with offerings such as showers and bars, but this has failed to really make the class stand out compared to lie-flat seats in business. With less demand for the category, many airlines are beginning to ask if offering First Class is even worth it anymore.

Analyzing the sales of First Class fares in the last ten years reveals a pretty starting comparison:

As we can see, only Emirates has increased the number of First Class seats on offer, with many airlines greatly reducing capacity.

Why is there less demand for First Class?

There are several reasons why fewer passengers are looking to fly at the pointy end of the plane.

The first is as we described above; that there is less and less difference between business class and First. Even corporate firms that are sending staff around the world are reluctant to upgrade them to First, feeling that business class is good enough (after all it does have business in the name). Both classes have lie-flat seats, and many airlines are creating business class suites with privacy doors. Only those few airlines have showers or other luxuries on their larger planes have a real point of a difference anymore. And with the A380 being retired one by one, even those crazy ideas will soon be gone.

As for those with plenty of money, many are now choosing to fly private. The number of billionaires in the world has doubled in the last ten years, with many looking to buy their own aircraft. Plus numerous startups have been created that facilitate ride sharing (imagine Uber of the skies) or short term private rentals (in fact, a normal person can fly privately on repositioning flights for a fraction of the cost). This has allowed the private aircraft availability to balloon outwards, sucking away demand for First Class fares.

Ultimately, airlines are choosing to remove First Class or rebrand it as a 'premium business'. In fact, Singapore has not even included First Class on its new A350, which currently flies the longest route in the world.

What do you think? Should airlines still offer First Class?