Ancillary revenues earned by the world's airlines jumped
from $10.25 billion in 2008 to $13.5 billion in 2009, according to preliminary
results published Wednesday for the "Amadeus Guide to Ancillary
Revenues"by IdeaWorks of
Shorewood, Wis. The figure, based on the 2009 financial filings of 96 airlines
worldwide, includes not only unbundled charges—such as for baggage or food—but
also commissions from other travel suppliers and partner revenue generated by
frequent flyer schemes.
The top earner of ancillary revenues worldwide in 2009 was United Airlines, up
from $1.6 billion to $1.89 billion. It swapped rankings with American Airlines,
which saw revenues fall from $2.19 billion to $1.85 billion. Delta was in third
position, followed by Qantas, Ryanair and EasyJet. Other U.S. airlines in the
top ten were US Airways, seventh, and Alaska Airlines, ninth.
When analyzed as a proportion of total revenues, the leisure-oriented low-cost
domestic United States airline Allegiant was top for the second year running,
with 29.2 percent of income from ancillary sources. Last year, the figure was
22.7 percent. In second place at 23.9 percent was Spirit, followed by Ryanair,
at 22.2 percent. None of the airlines in the top ten ranked on percentage of
total revenue is a network carrier with frequent flyer partner income, other
than Alaska.
Based on ancillary revenue per passenger, Allegiant also emerged top at $30.61.
United was fifth at $23.07.