View from the Wing
easyJet’s vacation business generated £250 million in pretax profit last year. That’s nearly 38% of the airline group’s earnings. Selling customers the rest of their trip has become a huge part of what makes the airline profitable.
Southwest wants some of that business, too. They’ll even give you back two free checked bags when you buy a vacation package. But after trumpeting packages as part of their turnaround, they’ve been much quieter about how that business is actually doing.
The new IdeaWorks Yearbook of Airline Ancillary Revenue from Jay Sorensen has some great examples of airlines finding things customers might actually want to buy. There’s plenty of money to be made selling a better trip.