Airlines will collect about US$65.8 billion in ancillary
revenues worldwide this year, an increase of 13 per cent compared with last
year, according to a report from CarTrawler and airline ancillary strategy firm
IdeaWorksCompany.
Although airlines are still working to rebuild revenue to
pre-pandemic levels, the amount of ancillary revenue per passenger has
continued to increase even throughout the pandemic, according to the report.
Airlines this year are expected to earn an average of $27.60 in ancillary
revenues per passenger, up from $23.91 in 2019.
Some travel habits during the pandemic have served to
increase ancillary revenue, according to CarTrawler. Leisure travellers, who
are more likely than business travellers to check bags, have comprised a higher
share of travel demand amid the slower recovery in business travel, and the
pandemic made passengers more willing to pay for seats closer to the front of
the aircraft or for extra space.
Several individual airlines have reported significant
increases in per-passenger ancillary revenues compared with the period prior to
Covid-19. Allegiant, for example, reported ancillary revenue per passenger was
up 14.6 per cent in the second quarter compared with the second quarter of
2019. For Ryanair, ancillary revenue per passenger was up 16 per cent during
that same period.