UK-based travel expense card provider FairFX has released a report on the most expensive airports around the world for business travel-related expense claims.
The research compared costs of business travel services at 25 popular airports to establish which airports around the world were most likely to drive up costs for corporates.
The report revealed that of the top-10 most expensive airport executive lounges, Dubai’s Emirates lounge for non-members came out priciest, costing £199.60 (R3 536) for one adult. Heathrow’s Terminal 2 Plaza premium lounge, Terminal 5 Club Aspire and Terminal 4 Plaza premium lounge came out second, third and 10th respectively. Other key international airports featuring in the top 10 included Frankfurt’s Sky Lounge at £34 (R602) per adult and Paris’s Air France lounge, costing non-members £30.57 (R541). Popular US hub, Atlanta’s The Club ATL lounge came out ninth most costly at £30.42 (R539).
At the other end of the scale, Tokyo’s Narita Travel lounge is cheapest at under £10 (R177) per adult. Amsterdam’s Aspire lounge and Barcelona’s Sala VIP Canudas lounge also feature in the cheapest ten lounges, both coming in under £27 (R478).
FairFX’s report examined the prices of basic employee expenses as another potentially costly expense for business travellers. These include expenses incurred while doing business in the region around major airports, such as lunch in the business district. Beijing appears to be cheapest for a lunchtime break, at around £6 (R106). Amsterdam and Paris turn out to be the most and second-most expensive cities for lunch at more than £12 (R213).
Airport transfers and taxi costs varied a great deal, with Beijing once again cheapest at £9 (R160) for a one-way transfer. London Gatwick and Heathrow are both costly at £210 (R3 726) and £138 (R2 448) respectively.
