2021 Airline Per-Passenger Ancillary Revenue Increases

Airlines will collect about $65.8 billion in ancillary revenues worldwide this year, an increase of 13 percent compared with last year, according to a report from CarTrawler and airline ancillary strategy firm IdeaWorksCompany.

Although airlines still are 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 this year, up from $23.91 in 2019. 

Some travel habits during the pandemic have served to increase ancillary revenue, according to CarTrawler. Leisure travelers, who are more likely than business travelers 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 percent in the second quarter compared with the second quarter of 2019. For Ryanair, ancillary revenue per passenger was up 16 percent during that same period.