AS business travel slowly comes back, company travel departments are sending out a strong message:

Work harder. Fit more productivity into each trip. Become a lot more accessible on the road — even on airplanes, using new in-flight wireless services.

And, oh yeah, do it more cheaply.

What lies ahead for the grunts on the road as the long slump in business travel eases? Air travel has already become less convenient, as airlines have significantly cut capacity. According to the airline data company OAG, domestic capacity in October was down 21 percent from October 2000 — roughly the equivalent of an entire major airline disappearing.

Well, get used to it. Invoking the current business travel buzz phrase, prepare for the “new normal,” says Charles Petruccelli, the president of the American Express Global Travel Services division, which managed $29.1 billion in worldwide corporate travel sales last year.

The business travel culture is evolving into a new model, Mr. Petruccelli and most other experts in the industry say.

Right now, we are experiencing a burst of pent-up demand for business travel, Mr. Petruccelli said. That demand, which does not yet reflect a significant economic recovery, is colliding with the realities of a shrunken air travel system and a strict clampdown on corporate spending in the last 18 months.

After all that time making severe cuts, companies are more firmly in charge of enforcing travel policy than ever.

“The recession, which is not over as far as I am concerned, has fundamentally changed the traditional business travel paradigm,” Mr. Petruccelli said. In the last year, he added, “we have seen some companies cutting their travel expenses by 70 percent.”

Previously, in good times and even in bad, business travelers often managed to get around some of the more onerous restrictions in travel policies. Travel managers winked (or winced) as high-value business travelers managed to deftly skirt formal rules. But the depth of the current economic trouble has given travel departments the time and incentive to make sure those rules are followed.

“The policies that have been firmly put in place in terms of the type of air fare class you must use, the type of hotel you must use — I guarantee you these will stay in place for a long time,” Mr. Petruccelli said.
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On the other hand, no matter what fare you pay, prepare for a new demand for being constantly connected. All over the world, airlines are planning to wire their fleets for in-flight Wi-Fi services and, on foreign carriers, for in-flight use of cellphones. On Monday, for example, Lufthansa announced that that it would provide Wi-Fi and cellphone services on its long-haul fleet, becoming the largest international carrier to offer the full range of connectivity.

So as the new era dawns, be ready to kiss goodbye those long hours of a blissful lack of connectivity on an airplane. Companies “will want maximum efficiency out of the traveler,” Mr. Petruccelli said. “Any solution that allows you to have access, to be able to work better while you’re traveling, is going to be very important.”

Increasingly, that will mean you’ve got mail. Or worse, a call from the office.