Airline industry experts have predicted that the amount charged by airlines from travellers for in flight drinks and food or even for choosing seats with a greater leg room would increase by 13.8% this year to an overwhelming US$67.4 billion.
The above statistics have out put forward by IdeaWorks that is an airline revenue consultancy as well as an online car rental booking organization known as CarTrawler, and includes as many as 178 airlines.
Together, they have arrived at the conclusion that the additional income of airlines from travellers has risen by about 200% ever since the year 2010.
It has also added that it accounts for about 9.1% of airline revenue globally.
Income from travellers for their checked in baggage make way for the generation of US$44.9 billion this year. The smaller chunk of airline revenue is believed to be sourced from selling frequent flyer miles to program partners and also commissions earned through car rental and hotel bookings. The amount earned is about US$22.5 billion.
It has been found that airlines companies like Air New Zealand are capable of collecting the largest amount of total revenue from ancillary revenue that amounts to about US$26.9 billion worldwide this year.
The factors that have led to the generation of such a grand revenue include seat assignment, premium seating, checked baggage and so on.
Emirates has also started charging travellers a fee for seat assignment since October.
The US major airlines are predicted to earn US$20.2 billion this year from ancillary revenue.
According to the ancillary revenue yearbook that was released in September, Qantas Airways secured the ninth rank amongst the top 10 airlines for earning money like this. It was able to earn about US$1.17 billion, a majority of which can be attributed to frequent flyer programs. Jetstar, on the other hand, earned about US$564 million.
