Luxury on the mend?

There appears to be a hint of "greenshoots" in the luxury sector going by reports from the recent luxury summit sponsored by the Financial Times in Monte Carlo. A Bloomberg report quotes the CEO of luxury group Burberry, Angela Ahrendts, as saying "luxury demand is leveling out as the market slowdown nears its first anniversary." Ms. Ahrendts suggests that while trends are "not getting significantly better, they’re not getting any worse." Mastercard also found that " slumping demand had eased in US luxury spending"

Other indicators such as business jets also seem to validate the aforementioned thinking. ARG/US (Aviation Research Group) a company that tracks, among  other things, safety reports, aircraft operating cost and market research for aircraft manufacturers was recently quoted as saying "the gap between U.S. business aircraft flying activity this year versus last year continued to narrow last month."

A CNN report in the travel sector on the likelihood of a resumption of supersonic travel could be another encouraging indicator of a revival. The report quotes a NASA official as saying that  "the next generation of passenger air travel at speeds faster than sound may start as soon as 2015, with business jets leading the way." Experts are quoted as sayiing that "the allure of cutting some of the misery out of long-haul flights will always be worth a premium price for frequent travelers."