Business traveller's diary

Flights: 8Miles flown: 6,838Destinations: Munich, London, Ascot, Brussels, New York, PhiladelphiaNights in a hotel: 10Nights on a dancefloor: 7Satisfaction rating: 9.65/10

It certainly has been a complex, logistically-challenged fortnight. With exciting new professional developments popping up in likely (Munich, London) and unlikely (Ascot, Philadelphia) parts of the world, I've been forced to add unfamiliar – and at times uncomfortable – modes of transport to my familiar business travel routine. Long, bumpy car journeys through the countryside and excruciatingly dull train journeys to the Continent have added variety but also fatigue. Happily, I was back within my comfort zone by the final flight of the period: the blissful BA183 across the Atlantic, from London to New York.

Once the preserve of BA, Virgin and a select few other carriers, transatlantic – and indeed all intercontinental – travel is rapidly being gatecrashed by the budget airlines. The growth in shorthaul choice has been a consistent feature of the last decade but longhaul proliferation is, in fact, a remarkably new development, a sudden shift that has roots no more than a year old.

Every day, one reads of a brand spanking new opportunity for the business and leisure traveller. Singapore Airlines' and Cathay Pacific's refit of their premium cabins, Virgin's new routes to Chicago and Nairobi, Air New Zealand's new round-the-world routing, Silverjet's new all-business-class service and BA's extravagant new Club World all fit snugly into the business category.

And what's on offer for the leisure flyer? A panoply of new, longhaul but low-cost options. Zoom begins flights from Gatwick to JFK for the scarcely credible sum of £129; Flyglobespan offer connections from Liverpool to New York; Oasis Airlines provide unfeasibly cheap flights to Hong Kong, and Ryanair are about to offer to pay you for the privilege of traversing the Atlantic (well, not quite but at £7 it almost seems that way).