Business class is well out of the reach for most people including me. I always kind of look at the various price differences and think to myself that it is just insane that people would pay 3-5 times as much for a ticket just to have a bit more space. But let's be honest here, it is a LOT more space. In fact, the amount of space that a seat in business class takes up is 3-5 times as much space, depending on the airline, so by that factor alone you can understand from the airline's perspective, why they would charge so much more for it.
I don't know many people that regularly fly business class but I know a few actual business travelers that get to fly business class by default and I know one person, who is a rather sought after engineer who initially as a joke insisted that anyone considering hiring him would have to provide him with First class transportation to even be considered. I think he read a book about how the answer to every question you don't ask is "no" in a business sense and I was quite happy when I found out that this cost was something that everyone that hires him agreed to without question.
As a budget traveler myself, I rarely end up in business class but I am, just like I would imagine most of you are, subjected to that shameful walk that us economy passengers must do through business class on our way to our cramped seats in steerage. I know that I am very envious when I see these people already on the plane, relaxed, with a glass of champagne in front of them when I already know that I am going to have to crawl over several people and jockey for arm-rest space as soon as I sit down.
The largest factor in why business class is kind of shown above although they do kind of under-represent how much larger 1st class actually is in this. First class is something so wildly expensive (sometimes like $20,000 or so) that I would kind of complain if someone were to "waste" that amount of money on me. Space is at a premium on an airplane and this is a very large reason for the increased cost. 9 people fit in economy, 2 in business, and only 1 in first-class. Makes sense so far, right? Well there is more to it than that.
The few times I have flown business class I also got to see the other things such as the food being much better and served by people that are doing a much better job of pretending to give a damn about you. In economy, they have maybe 1 flight attendant for ever 50 people, in business class they have 1 for every 10, in first class they have 1 for every 5 or so passengers. You will never have to wait for anything in business or first class whereas I have been in economy in the "night" and pressed the attendant button and simply had nobody ever respond. It was only when I stood up to go to the galley that I turned around and saw that dozens of the indicator lights that let the attendants know who called for them were on and nobody was responding to any of them. This would never happen in business or first class where they bend over backwards to treat you like royalty in the expensive seats.
There is also the question of comfort leading up to the flight and the amount of time you are going to spend being treated like cattle in the security lines. In many airports, there is a separate line for people with business or first-class tickets and you don't have to wait very long if at all. They are also much nicer to you in those lines and treat you with respect and not the huffy and authoritarian way that you are almost certainly going to be treated in the long lines for economy class. In the few times that I managed to travel business class internationally this is the one thing that really stuck with me. Especially as I get older I really do not like getting talked down to by someone and especially not by someone who is 10-20 years younger than me in an ill-fitting uniform.
You are prioritized in basically everything in business class and above and there is a lot to be said for the increased comfort of the lounge access compared to the regular part of the airport where everyone else is. In many ways I think it CAN be worth the increased price but it depends on many things such as how far are you going, how much income do you actually have, and what you think your time is worth. For me, traveling in business class brings back the nostalgic feeling of how good air travel used to be around 20 years ago. Traveling in economy class just plain sucks these days and well, that is unlikely to change.
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This is China Airlines and they aren't even very good!
The problem is that most people can't justify spending thousands of dollars on something that would otherwise cost several hundred. I think one of the short answers for WHY it is so expensive is simply a supply and demand thing: The airline CAN charge this much and still have customers so why reduce it?
I did a search just a moment ago with random locations to see what the price difference is and NYC to London on random yet the same dates the economy class round-trip ticket was under $600, a great price indeed. The cost for the same flight on the same dates in business class was $3200. Do the math real fast, that is more than 5 times the cost. Is it justified? Well the people with the resources to purchase it would probably say yes but for those of us that don't have that kind of money it would be just a dream - and probably a huge waste - to be able to afford something like that.
I think at the end of the day the reason why business class costs so much is because of one very simple reason: Because the airlines CAN charge that much. Think about it ok? If you had the opportunity to charge a certain price for a product or service you would charge it as well just like my engineer friend can demand a high salary and a lot of luxury because he is in high demand.
For those of us that are accustomed to economy class I would say that it is probably better if you never see the other side of this situation because it will ruin travel for you. Don't decide to "splurge" on one flight because it will ruin all the ones you get on in the future. Ignorance is truly bliss in this particular realm.