The Latvian national airline airBaltic announces that during the first half of 2023 the airline’s most popular ancillary products were checked baggage, advanced seat reservation, and heavy hand baggage. In comparison to the same period last year, purchases of these products have increased by 10%, 24%, and 40% respectively.
Meanwhile, a growing amount of passengers has recently chosen to travel with their pets. In contrast to the initial half of 2022, the number of animals transported by airBaltic has doubled, exceeding 6 600 animals this year. Among them, 27% were cats, and the remaining 73% were dogs.
Eva Plakane, SVP Revenue Management of airBaltic: “We see a consistent demand for various ancillary products, designed to enhance passenger comfort and the whole flight experience. In the first half of this year, the total revenue from the additional products has surged by 39%, compared to the same period the year before. Also, services offered by our collaboration partners are appreciated.”
“Overall, air travel is not anymore just a flight – it is a more in-depth engagement with customer by offering full travel experience from start to finish. Passengers want to make flying comfortable and enjoyable. Therefore, we are constantly following their feedback to improve our existing products and evaluate new options,” Plakane added.
Moreover, the ancillary product service Advanced Seat Reservation, offering to select specific seats for upcoming flights, is also gaining popularity. Namely, the demand for purchases of preferred seats has seen a notable increase of 24%, with over 14% of the total passenger amount opting for this feature. Specifically, the 15th row stands out as the most favoured one. However, those, whose seats are included in the ticket price, show a preference for the 5th row, located right behind the business class, along with seats next to emergency exits that offer added legroom. It should be noted, that a newly designed seat menu is available on the airBaltic website, offering transparent seat categories, appealing prices, and clear explanations.
Lately, there has been a notable surge in demand for the transportation of special equipment (+83%), indicating the return of passengers' sports routines to the pre-pandemic level. Travelers are flying together with such personal items as skis, golf bags, and even surfboards.
airBaltic operates more than 100 routes from Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and Tampere, offering connections to a wide range of destinations in the airline's route network in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Caucasus region. A complete schedule of airBaltic flights and tickets are available on the company's homepage at www.airbaltic.com.
