The budget airline’s income from ancillary services such as on-flight food and souvenirs was $338.2 million in 2018, or 23.5 percent of total revenues, according to the CarTrawler Ancillary Revenue Yearbook recently released by U.S. consultancy IdeaWorks Company.  

Low-cost carrier VivaAerobus of Mexico topped the list with its ancillary earnings making up of 47.6 percent of its revenues, followed by the U.S.’s- Spirit Airlines (44.9 percentI and Frontier Airlines (42.8 percent). 

IdeaWorks listed statistics for 76 airlines that disclosed revenues from selling frequent flyer points to partners, fees from passengers choosing seats, commissions from hotel bookings and other such sources. The study found that the carriers earned almost $52.7 billion in ancillary revenues last year.

For budget carriers, ancillary revenue is a decisive factor in success when its profit margin reaches over 90 percent.

Vietjet aims to become one of the top five airlines in the world in terms of ancillary revenues. The carrier, owned by billionaire Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, has the largest domestic market share of 44 percent.