Finland’s main airline has announced that it will weigh passengers and luggage.
Finnair said the measure, which will be voluntary until May, aims to improve balance calculations to make flights safer.
“Finnair collects data by weighing volunteer customers and their carry-on bags at the departure gate,” the company said in a statement.
“The weighing is voluntary and anonymous, and the data is only used to optimize Finnair’s current aircraft balance calculations.”
Finnair said that by measuring the weight of passengers, it can ensure that the aircraft does not exceed a set maximum weight that it can withstand before takeoff.
The company promises not to use customers’ personal data.
Satu Munukka, Finnair’s head of ground processes, said in a statement: “We use metrological data to perform the average calculations necessary for the safe operation of our flights, and the data collected is not linked to our customers’ personal data. It is not linked in any way.”
Munukka noted that airlines do not ask for the names or reservation numbers of passengers who wish to be weighed.
The Post has contacted Finnair for comment.
Observers say changes in eating patterns and diets can cause passengers to gain weight, which could affect the safety of flights.
“300 heavier-than-average people can significantly overweight the airplane, and all performance calculations such as runway length, climb, obstacle clearance, landing distance, altitude capability, etc. It depends on the weight,” says Shem. Malmquist, an instructor at the Florida Institute of Technology’s College of Aeronautics, told CNBC.
Most European airlines use the average passenger weight calculated by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). They found that the average weight of men was 82.2 kg (181.22 lb), while the average weight of women was 67.5 kg (148.8 lb).
According to government statistics, as of 2020, 42% of the U.S. population over the age of 20 is considered obese. In the 1960s, that number was just 10%.
Airlines have come under fire for their treatment of plus-size and obese passengers.
Several domestic airlines, including United Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and American Airlines, require customers who cannot fit in one seat to purchase a separate ticket.
Obesity advocates say airlines are reducing seat width to squeeze more profit out of each flight.
Finnair joins a group of airlines assessing customers, along with Korean Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Uzbekistan Airways and Air New Zealand.
Last year, South Korean airlines reacted angrily to a new law requiring domestic airlines to weigh passengers and carry-on luggage at least once every five years.
