Which airline’s passengers pay the most for extras?
Ryanair takes a lot of flak for charging passengers extra for everything from checking in luggage to reserving a seat, but passengers flying on rival carrier Jet2.com actually pay more for ancillary services.
In fact, Jet2.com is one of the most successful airlines in the world at squeezing additional revenue out of passengers, according to a new report compiled by IdeaWorks Company.
Jet2.com’s ancillary earnings of $45.83 per passenger last year placed it fourth in a league table of carriers, behind AirAsiaX, Spirit and Qantas.
It is believed to have earned more than 26% of its total revenue from a la carte sales, such as onboard meals and duty-free, while Ryanair makes just over 21% of its income from the sale of extras.
Even though the €1.064 billion earned by Ryanair made it the sixth biggest earner in the world for ancillary revenue, the Irish carrier didn’t even feature in the top 10 league table for income per passenger.
Neither did easyJet, whose total earnings of €880.9 million were estimated as it declined to provide official figures to the compilers of the report.
Overall, 53 carriers earned a total of $27.1 billion from the sale of ancillary services and products, up from $2.45 billion earned by just 23 airlines in 2007.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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