Tiger Airways bested APAC airlines in ancillary revenues global ranking

Providing the only Eastern challenge to older and bigger Western carriers, the airline achieved high scores for its budget fares.

Tiger Airways emerged top among carriers in the Asia-Pacific region, and broken into a circle once dominated by bigger and older Western carriers, according to a Tiger Airways announcement on Monday.

In a worldwide study on all types of airlines, Tiger Airways was included in the results for the first time achieving 5th position globally, with 19.4% of its total revenue generated by ancillary, based on the figures published in 2009.

Among the top 10 carriers, Tiger Airways and Air Asia, who ranked 10th, were the only Asian airlines.

Tony Davis, President and Group CEO of Tiger Airways Holdings, said, “We are proud to be the most successful airline in Asia and Australia for ancillary revenues. We have proven that a smaller and newer player can win on the world stage by getting it right. The fact that such a high percentage of our revenue comes from ancillary services proves that we are giving customers what they want. And that is the powerful combination of ultra low fares and the choice to pay for optional services."

The airline's CEO added, “In only a few years, we have made big strides in offering innovative ancillary services. Our ground-breaking introduction of check-in baggage options ‘Luggage UpsizeTM,’ has been hailed and copied by other carriers. Subsequently, we have continued to lead the way by introducing other services such as seat selection and our latest offering - 'Board me first' priority boarding.”

The study was released by IdeaWorks, a consultancy focused on airline ancillary revenues and Amadeus, a global technology provider for the travel industry.