Fare family pricing optimisation

Many airlines still rely on static fare ladders with fixed price increments between Basic, Standard, and Flex products. While simple to manage, these legacy static gaps do not reflect the actual price sensitivity of the passenger on a specific route, season, or day.

ADC’s WTP-driven pricing approach replaces these fixed rules with evidence-based increments. By understanding the true willingness to pay for the next tier of service, you maximise both conversion and yield.

Why fixed fare family gaps leave value on the table

In most airlines, the price gap between fare families is defined by historical averages or legacy commercial rules. These rules simplify filing, but they rarely reflect actual demand elasticity. The optimal buy-up price between fare families can vary significantly by route, season, passenger segment and competitive context. Yet most airlines apply one static gap across the entire network.

This leaves revenue on the table.

The opportunity

Price optimization: a high-impact revenue opportunity

Optimising the price gaps between your fare families is one of the highest-impact opportunities in Revenue Management, with relatively low operational overhead.

Conversion optimisation: Large price gaps discourage upselling; gaps that are too small fail to maximise margin. We find the optimal balance for every route.

Revenue uplift: WTP-based optimisation typically delivers ~1%–4% revenue improvement versus traditional business rules pricing. For many networks, this represents one of the largest untapped opportunities for optimization.

Our transition framework

We don't just replace one static list with another. We build the capability to find these optimal points continuously.

Built for operational reality

This approach is WTP-driven, not necessarily high-frequency dynamic. It integrates seamlessly with existing airline infrastructure:

• ATPCO filing Recommendations are designed to be compatible with standard fare structures.
• RMS integration Our WTP forecasting works with your existing bid-price or class-based systems.
• Regulatory guardrails Ensures transparency and consistency in your public-facing offers.
• Experimentation safety Our adaptive testing techniques (such as Multi-Armed Bandit) minimise revenue risk. They quickly abandon price points that don't convert, protecting your baseline while learning.

Own the science, not just the results

At the end of our engagement, ADC transfers the full solution to your team. You own the elasticity models and the decision logic with full transparency into the reasoning, plus an enterprise-grade codebase and documentation. This ensures you maintain optimised fare families as market conditions shift in 2026 and beyond.

Frequently asked questions