Apex fare data shows that premium cabins can deliver the majority of passenger revenue.
Share of Total Ticket Revenue by Cabin, LHR-PVG / LHR-HKG. Source: Apex
Key findings
British Airways' Heathrow (LHR) to Shanghai (PVG) service is the most premium-skewed of the set — 80% of estimated ticket revenue comes from premium cabins, versus just 20% from Economy. This comes from the combination of high premium cabin fares and the premium-heavy configuration of their Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which has 127 seats in economy and 89 in premium cabins (39 in premium economy, 42 in business and 8 in first class). Apex fare data shows that the premium economy average fare is near 3× economy, whilst business is around 7× and it's 13× for first class.
On Heathrow to Hong Kong (HKG), British Airways and Cathay Pacific have a similar but lower mix: 69% premium, 31% Economy. The aircraft most commonly used on these routes carry a much higher share of economy seats than the Boeing 787-9 on BA's LHR-PVG service. BA mostly uses the A350-1000, which has 219 economy seats and 112 in premium cabins (and no first class), and Cathay mostly uses its Boeing 777-300ER, with 201 seats in economy and 93 in premium cabins.
Chinese carriers on Gatwick (LGW) to Shanghai tell a different story. Air China and China Eastern both sit close to a 50/50 economy/premium revenue split, with Economy revenue edging out premium on Air China's LGW-PVG service. Both carriers mostly use the Boeing 787-9 on the route, with over 220 economy seats — well above the 127 economy seats on BA's Boeing 787-9 used on LHR-PVG — and Apex fare data has the business class premium at just under 5× for both services.
It's a similar, even revenue mix for China Eastern between Heathrow and Shanghai, driven by an economy-heavy configuration, most services not offering premium economy, and cabin multipliers for business and first class that fall short of what British Airways achieves on the same route.
Apex has route-level multi-cabin class fare data for over 200 airlines. Please get in touch if you want to see data for the markets you are interested in.
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