Amex GBT Losses Underscore Business Travel's Incredibly Sluggish Recovery
Photo Credit: Amex has doubled its footprint among small and medium-sized clients, which now represent 45 percent of its total revenue. Unsplash / Daniel Lim
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Transactions are still about 75 percent lower than in 2019, but the agency is hoping a winter bookings surge will reflect the pace of the year ahead. It's an assumption not without risk.
A large gap still exists between pre and post-pandemic business travel volumes, going by American Express Global Business Travel's latest full-year results. Amext GBT, because of its scale, is often a bellwether for corporate travel trends.
Amex GBT posted sales of $34.1 billion in 2019, while for the 12 months ended Dec. 31 it notched up about a quarter of that figure.
"We ended 2021 on a high note despite the Omicron impact in December, with financial results for the full year well ahead of our adjusted (earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization) forecast driven by a 119 percent increase in fourth quarter revenue and efficiencies from continued cost discipline," said Paul Abbott. "We believe the business travel recovery is well underway and is gaining momentum with transactions reaching 51 percent of 2019 levels in the last week of February 2022."
That was a 23 percentage point improvement versus mid-January. Still, business tr
