It's truly a sign of the times. As classic aircraft are retired and airlines hunt for more profits, international first class seats are starting to fade like contrails in the sky. Qantas is the latest airline to order its newest aircraft without a top-tier premium cabin.

Business travel is slowly returning and airlines want to make sure they grab as much of that lucrative market as possible. Company budgets have largely put the kibosh on first class travel for its employees and even business class travel can be difficult for some. As airlines look for the right mix of seats to accommodate higher paying customers, favoring business class and premium economy seats over first class seems to be the logical step to take.

Qantas Airways announced in 2010 that it would limit its first class seats to key long-haul routes, namely those from Australia to London and Los Angeles. The airline is eliminating first class on its 747-400s and will only offer the service on twelve A380 aircraft. The last eight A380 super jumbos to be delivered from 2012 will not offer first class. Instead, the airline is focusing on increasing the number of premium economy seats and a business class that features fully flat sleeper seats.

Qantas is not unique. Many airlines that once offered international first class are ordering aircraft with business class as the premium cabin. Interestingly, the merger of United Airlines with Continental Airlines points to another dilemma. What do you do when one airline offers services that the other doesn't? United offers international first class and premium economy seats while continental offers its hybrid BusinessFirst^® product as its highest international offering. Chances are that, like Qantas, the merged United Airlines will elect to keep first class on select international routes rather than add these seats to all Continental Airlines long-haul aircraft. The market will be the final arbiter in this debate. What seats will passengers be willing to pay a higher price for? The likeliest seats will be those that get flyers out of the cramped economy seats and into something a little bit roomier. Expect the growth of premium economy seats to continue, but probably not at the expense of regular economy seats. Something has to give and it looks to be first class.

The Qantas move could be a shield against the oncoming competition from a united Virgin Blue Group which is rebranding its multiple airlines – Virgin Blue, V Australia and Pacific Blue – as Virgin Australia. The airline group wants to attract more business travel by offering a unified business class and economy class product across all of its subsidiaries.

International first class seating, though still abundant today, will likely be a rare sight in the coming years. Before the last contrail fades, you will probably still find them on the longest routes for the most exclusive travelers. Soon, business class will be the new first class and the cycle of redefining what premium means in the airline business will continue unabated.