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SINGAPORE: Three-quarters of Asian airlines are committed to making ancillary services one of their key priorities for this year, according to a survey released by travel consultancy Abacus.
Ancillary services include insurance, seat upgrades or lounge access.
American carriers currently get 15 per cent of their revenues from such services. But observers said Asia is not likely to follow anytime soon.
Airline passengers in the US and other mature markets are now being charged for extra leg-room, onboard meals and inflight movies. These ancillary services have boosted revenues for full service carriers and low cost carriers alike.
While Americans are used to this service, it is still a new concept in Asia.
Brett Henry, vice president of Marketing, Abacus said: "When our survey respondents say less than 5 per cent of their revenues are coming from this and they look and see other airlines capturing 15 per cent of total revenues from these sources, it certainly points to them that there is a large revenue opportunity by implementing ancillary revenue programmes."
For now, ancillary services are mainly provided by low cost carriers - like Tiger, Air Asia and Jetstar - which offer onboard meals and services, but at extra cost to customers.
According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, such ancillary revenues now make up about 15 per cent of total revenues for budget carriers in mature markets.
Observers said it will take some time before Asia jumps on the bandwagon of ancillary services. This is because Asian customers still expect full service when they pay full fare.
Siva Govindasamy, Asia managing editor, Flightglobal said: "Over time you may find full-service carriers offering some of these services as they have to keep their costs lower, as they compete with the low cost carriers.
"So ancillary revenues will continue to increase, it will continue to grow the market and it will be an important market. But it will be more for the low cost carriers.
Although there are no projections of how much revenues Asian carriers can make from ancillary sales, observers said it is not likely to be as high as those of American airlines any time soon.
- CNA/sc
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