Skift Take
Now that airlines are reporting major profit, it's time for them to reward flyers with a better onboard experience and more route options.
U.S. airlines reported after-tax profit of $25.6 billion in 2015, a gigantic increase from the $7.5 billion profit reported in 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
This marks the sixth consecutive year that the 25 major passenger airlines in the U.S. posted a profit after tax. They also nearly doubled their pre-tax operating profit from $14.6 billion in 2014 to $28 billion in 2015.
New information also shows that revenue earned by airlines from bag fees has reached a record high of $3.8 billion, up from $3.4 billion in 2014.
Airlines also earned $3 billion from change fees in 2015, a slight increase from 2014.
American Airlines and US Airways earned the most in 2015 from both bag fees and change fees.
Here’s a breakdown of which airlines earned the most off bag fees in 2015.
| Airline | 2015 Total (in ,000s) |
|---|---|
| AA/US Combined | 1,125,846 |
| American | 876,800 |
| US Airways | 249,046 |
| Delta | 875,102 |
| United | 672,222 |
| Spirit | 288,711 |
| Frontier | 220,044 |
| Allegiant | 161,364 |
| JetBlue | 142,710 |
| Alaska | 112,815 |
| Hawaiian | 81,161 |
| Virgin America | 59,959 |
| Southwest | 43,636 |
| Sun Country | 17,413 |
| Island Air Hawaii | 2,759 |
| All | 3,803,742 |
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Tags: american airlines, fees, us airways
Photo credit: A US Airways aircraft at the gate in Phoenix. Ed Suominen / Flickr