Cheers to Easyjet Passengers Guzzling Fancy G&T's

Here's a fun fact: Easyjet Plc sold 900,000 bottles of premium British tonic water Fever Tree during the Christmas quarter, or one for every twenty passengers it carried. While not everyone ordered a gin accompaniment, this is surely another data point confirming Britain is experiencing a craze for the spirit.

But it's also evidence that the budget carrier's ancillary revenue strategy is working. Overall, ancillary sales, which include checked bags, allocated seating and in-flight transactions jumped 20 percent year-on-year in the fiscal first quarter, or more than double the rate of passenger growth. These extras now comprise almost 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) in annual revenue, or one-fifth of total sales, slightly below Ryanair Plc.