What Is Ancillary Revenue?

On the flip side, in regions with increased COVID-19 infections, consumers were eager to pay for offerings such as extra leg room. Organic sales are revenues generated from the firm’s existing operations as opposed to acquired operations. Below is a table showing the product sales as reported by the company in its 10Q earnings report for the quarter ending on December 28, 2019. “Ancillary revenues”, therefore, are revenues that are of secondary importance to the operation of a company.

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Airline Industry

However, ancillary revenue in the industry comes from the sale of things like in-flight pay-per-view movies, the headphones used to listen to these movies, and special meal packages. The banking sector has traditionally earned its revenue from the interest rates charged on loan and credit products. Although the majority of the industry’s revenue is still from credit products, banks also generate ancillary revenue, including from wealth management services, wire transfers, and equipment leasing services. With business travel mostly halted, leisure travelers made up a greater share of airline passengers, which boosted baggage revenue, as leisure travelers are more likely to check more bags. Four airlines made more than 50% of their total revenues in 2020 from ancillary revenue. According to the 2021 CarTrawlerYearbook of Ancillary Revenue report, produced by IdeaWorksCompany, Allegiant, Spirit, Viva Aerobus, and Wizz Air all broke through the elusive barrier, with Wizz Air taking top billing. Airlines offering low-cost flights supplement their ticket revenue by applying a range of charges for booking over the telephone, check-in at the airport and excess baggage.

Ancillary revenue in the hotel industry includes revenue from high speed WiFi, in-room dining, parking, business services, meals, fees for extra loyalty points, late checkout/early check-in fees, in-room entertainment, and trip cancellation insurance. Apple Inc. is well known for its iconic iPhone, but the company has diversified its sources of earnings over the years by creating ancillary revenue.

Ancillary Revenue Grows In Importance For Many Airlines

Ancillary income is defined as the revenue generated that’s not from a company’s core products and services. Ancillary revenue is the revenue generated from goods or services that differ from or enhance the main services or product lines of a company.

Nearly $70 billion out of the $91.819 billion in total product revenue reported in December 2019 was from the company’s core hardware products. Ancillary revenue is important because it can help companies diversify the sources of total revenue. The company said the move would create the world’s largest publicly traded business-to-business travel… Seat assignments, for which many carriers charge a fee, were more frequently purchased, as were in-flight entertainment options as well as Wi-Fi. In order to define the term “ancillary revenue”, let’s first break out the dictionary to define “ancillary”. Lead Journalist – Australasia – A Masters level education and appetite for travel combines to make Andrew an incredible aviation brain with decades of insight behind him.

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Companies that generate ancillary revenue can weather periods of sales declines in their core products more effectively, helping to generate steady earnings growth over the long term. These revenues can vary from car washes at gas stations to advertisements placed on air planes.

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. The US-based airlines do well from co-branded credit card programs. The five largest US airlines generated revenue of $19.5 billion from their frequent flyer programs in 2019, or an average of $25.71 per passenger. More than 90% of revenue came courtesy of co-branded credit card programs.

Understanding Ancillary Revenue

By 2019, it had increased to $23.91, and for 2021, the projection is $27.60. Revenue that a company derives from anything other than its main business. To give a very basic example, a liquor store may receive ancillary revenue from the sale of cigarette lighters and magazines at the cash register.

Contrary to the average fare recorded by IATA – which showed a declining trend with a significant drop during 2020 and continuing into 2021 – ancillary revenue displayed annual increases even during the most challenging periods to aviation in 2020. The report is based on statistics disclosed earlier this year by 75 airlines for 2020 and applied to a larger list of 109 airlines for 2021. Airline ancillary revenue was estimated to be $92.9 billion worldwide in 2018.

Report: 2021 Airline Per

Apple is a great example of a company that’s strategically growing its ancillary income so that it comprises a greater share of the company’s total revenue. We can see from the table above that Mac, and iPad revenues were lower in 2019 versus 2018. However, revenue growth from the company’s ancillary products and services more than offset any revenue declines from fewer Mac and iPad sales. 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. Ancillary revenue is revenue that is derived from goods or services other than a company’s primary product offering.

• Perhaps the best and most widely-known example of ancillary revenue comes from the airline industry.
• American Airlines and United offer premium economy services such as extra leg room or other highlights.
• Publish details of charges so that customers are aware of them; hidden charges can cause resentment.
• As a result, companies can create new opportunities for growth in addition to the ancillary revenue.
• United Airlines is the leader in dollar volume of ancillary revenue.
• These statistics were applied to a larger list of 134 airlines to provide a truly global projection of ancillary revenue activity by the world’s airlines for 2020.

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This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Learn accounting fundamentals and how to read financial statements with CFI’s free online accounting classes. Or their business model as a whole – to make ancillary sales the focus of their business. Services revenue, including from iTunes generated $12.715 billion in 2019 up from $10.875 billion in 2018. With the number of members self-medicating their way through the 2020 travel downturn courtesy of the online Qantas wine store, that’s no surprise.

In the first half of 2018, ancillary revenue at Ryanair rose 28%. United Airlines is the leader in dollar volume of ancillary revenue. However, ancillary revenue from wearables, such as earphones and home accessories generated over $10 billion in 2019 up from $7.3 billion in 2018 .

Reports

The top performing US-based airlines as a group achieved revenue of more than $17.5 billion from frequent flyer programs, that’s an average of $25 per passenger. Examples of ancillary revenue could be an ice-cream company that gets into the business of selling ice-cream scoopers, or a printer company that starts selling printer ink. Ancillary revenue is important because it can help companies diversify a company’s revenue stream. The report notes that fluctuations in consumer confidence in travel safety varied by region, and in regions with more vaccinations, consumer confidence led to lower à la carte activity. According to the report, consumer purchase behavior of ancillary offerings changed during the pandemic. Checked baggage activity increased, possibly due to people relocating or staying in destinations for a longer period of time.

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• Four airlines made more than 50% of their total revenues in 2020 from ancillary revenue.
• By 2019, it had increased to $23.91, and for 2021, the projection is $27.60.
• There are several actions that could result in being blocked including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

Publish details of charges so that customers are aware of them; hidden charges can cause resentment. For example, snacks and beverages at gas stations were initially considered secondary product offerings that generated ancillary revenue. However, when the price of gasoline fell, items sold in the stores of gas stations, such as snacks and beverages, began to make up a greater share of total revenue. Eventually, food and beverage sales at gas stations surpassed gasoline revenues. As this week’s ancillary revenue report reveals, some airlines are becoming very good at doing that.

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Examples include concessions at sporting events, baggage handling or seat selection revenue received by airlines, restaurant revenue received by hotel owners, and car-wash services sold by gas stations. Ancillary revenue may exceed primary revenues, leading to changes in business models. Some travel habits during the pandemic have served to increase ancillary revenue, according to CarTrawler. Globally, about 63% of ancillary revenue is generated by à la carte activity. The remaining 37% is from revenue produced by frequent flyer programs and commissions paid by travel-related companies including car rentals and hotels.

The increased presence of low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines or Ryanair is putting pressure on legacy carriers. Airlines can use product differentiation and potentially boost their revenues by “unbundling” the travel experience by charging separate fees for services such as checked baggage and beverages served on board.