Airlines are set to make £62billion in baggage fees and other extra charges such as on board food and seat selection in 2017, a new report has revealed.
The research has shown how ancillary revenue has more than tripled since 2010 when it was just £17billion and that extra charges now work out at around £15 per passenger.
It also revealed that 27 per cent of extra charges are for baggage fees, with 25 per cent covering other ‘a-la-carte pricing charges’.
Airlines are set to make over £60billion in ancillary revenue in 2017, which includes baggage fees and other add on to flight tickets
Other fees passengers are paying on top of their tickets are for on-board sales, frequent flier programmes and revenue from partnerships with hotels and car hire firms.
A breakdown on how much each individual airline has made from ancillary revenue will not be available until next year.
However, the report by the US-based IdeaWorksCompany, says all airlines, even more traditional carriers such as British Airways, which now charges for food on some flights and extra leg room, are seeing an increase in ancillary revenue.
The report stated: ‘With few exceptions, airlines all over the world are moving to a la carte methods to provide more choices for consumers while boosting ancillary revenue.
‘The pace of ancillary revenue activity quickens when major alliance members, such as Air France/KLM, American, Lufthansa, Qantas, and United embrace ancillary revenue methods.
‘The changes have a ripple effect through the oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliances which encourages member airlines to adopt the same methods to smooth commercial and operational connections.
‘This partially explains why the largest share of the 2017 increase came from the world’s traditional airlines at $6.1 billion, which was 41% of the total increase.’
A pie chart showing a breakdown of where the airlines’ ancillary revenue is coming from
The research also predicts the major US airlines such as American, United and Alaskan will make £18.3billion in extra charges.
Airlines such as Ryanair and WizzAir could make £12.6billion and low-cost carriers such as Easyjet £5.8billion.
The report added: ‘Throughout North America, Europe, and Australasia, basic economy fares are now prevalent for short and medium haul travel.
‘Airlines using this a la carte approach usually find more than 50 per cent of passengers select higher-priced bundled options. When this activity is matched by an ever-growing pool of airlines, the result is billions more ancillary revenue.’
Earlier this year, CarTrawler and IdeaWorksCompany reported the ancillary revenue disclosed by 66 airlines for 2016.
The previous research found that United Airlines made the most cash, £4.77billion, from ancilliary charges.
Meanwhile Florida-based Spirit Airlines was the most reliant on the charges with it making up 46.4 per cent of its total revenue.