Business travellers waste their companies more than half a billion pounds in lost productivity, according to research released today.

Wireless internet service provider BT Openzone says that British business travellers spend 689,000 hours a month waiting in airports, with most spending an average of two to three hours each month doing so.

The survey also revealed that nine out of ten of the 300 regular travellers surveyed said they felt they should be instantly contactable during the day. Most said they felt this need had increased in the past two years.

Chris Clark, CEO of BT Wireless Broadband, said: "Business travel has been revolutionised by the increased use of mobile technologies, from laptops and mobile phones through to PDAs and Blackberrys. Historically, time spent waiting for a business flight really was downtime, meaning more pressure when business travellers get back to the office, now travellers can work as if they are in the office and are readily contactable.

Clark added: "Waiting for a flight at the airport is a necessary but frustrating experience. However, this feeling is compounded if you know you have work to do, phone calls to make and documents to write. Now, with the installation of wireless broadband hotspots across the globe, business travellers can log onto their emails and networks and the airport lounge becomes their office."

Do you think you should be contactable wherever you are when you are travelling? Email us at businesstravel@thetimes.co.uk and let us know your thoughts