During the dark days of travel restrictions, European airlines provided a neat demonstration of the limits of virtual meetings.Top airline chiefs on video link at an annual industry summit in 2021 were left bemused when an online panel unravelled as the moderator’s line failed. The host returned after CEOs tried to fill the time talking about their holiday plans, but disappeared again after falling off his chair.
It was more engaging than many conferences, but also proved a point: predictions of the demise of business travel following the rise of video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams were off the mark.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates predicted that more than 50 per cent of business travel would disappear, and even some senior airline industry bosses thought a significant chunk was gone forever.