Revenue Management sits at the heart of airline profitability. It combines art and science: airlines optimize prices and inventory to earn the most revenue from each flight and aircraft.
At the same time, airlines can increase profitability by selling additional services (ancillaries). Airlines offer these services during booking, and they also sell them after booking, right up until the day of travel. Because the post-booking phase sits closer to departure and customer intent becomes clearer, airlines can use it as a strong moment to optimize profit.
However, not every additional service creates the same value. Airlines should prioritize ancillaries that:
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improve customer satisfaction,
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match what customers are willing to pay for, and
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generate a real margin.
In fact, some services deliver margins well above the industry average for flight sales (often cited around ~4%). As a result, ancillaries can become a meaningful profit lever, especially when airlines target and price them well.
At Threedot, we advise airlines and technology providers on the evolution of revenue management and ancillary management, both at booking and post-booking. In particular, we focus on a world moving toward offers and orders, with AI playing a bigger role.
So, what do you think? Where is the bigger commercial opportunity for airlines: during booking or post-booking? To discuss more, please reach out to hello@threedot.io
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