Ryanair Is Getting Better at Squeezing More Money Out of Flyers

Ryanair said improvements in getting passengers to buy priority boarding and reserved seating drove growth in its ancillary revenue. And if the airline is getting adept at squeezing more money out of passengers, it also intends to accelerate airline consolidation in Europe buy putting more pressure on weaker competitors this winter. Ryanair reported a 27 percent jump in ancillary revenue as it continues to work out different ways to sell services to passengers. Ancillary revenues hit $1.5 billion (€1.3 billion) for the six months to the end of September and made up 26.6 percent of total revenue, which increased 22.9 percent from the prior year. With the improvements in conversion for priority boarding and reserved seating, the airline said it will continue to come up with ways to squeeze more money out of passengers through its digital development hub, Ryanair Labs.