Called ancillary revenue, these activities also include commissions gained from hotel bookings and the sale of frequent flyer miles to partners.
Airlines may complain about the cost of fuel but they say little about the money they make from those little – or not so little – ‘extras’ like choosing your seat on the plane, or carrying extra luggage. Airlines even have a nice name for these extras - a la carte services.
Called ancillary revenue, these activities also include commissions gained from hotel bookings and the sale of frequent flyer miles to partners.
Latest estimates indicate airline ancillary revenue will reach US$92.9 billion worldwide in 2018, a figure that represents a 312% increase from the 2010 figure of US$22.6 billion.
The estimate comes from CarTrawler, the online car rental distribution system, and IdeaWorksCompany.
“IATA estimates more than 4.3 billion travellers will depart on flights in 2018. Most of them now have the choice of paying a little extra for more comfort and convenience – thus providing airlines with a golden opportunity to build and strengthen their customer experience in the long-term,” said Aileen McCormack, chief commercial officer at CarTrawler.
Earlier this year, CarTrawler and IdeaWorksCompany reported the ancillary revenue disclosed by 73 airlines for 2017.
These statistics were applied to a larger list of 175 airlines to provide a truly global projection of ancillary revenue activity by the world’s airlines for 2018.