Getting on the scales in the bathroom in the morning is a challenge for some people. But then also at the airport? This is exactly what the South Korean airline Korean Air invites its passengers to do in August and September. The airline wants to weigh its guests and hand luggage when boarding domestic and international flights. This is reported by the newspaper “The Korea Times”.
Korea Air will weigh passengers at Gimpo International Airport on domestic flights from August 28 to September 6 and at Incheon International Airport on international flights from September 8 to 19, the airline said. The data is collected anonymously. However, if you do not want to be weighed, you can inform the staff before boarding.
The background to the weigh-in action is flight safety, Korean Air continues.
Airlines such as Finnair, Hawaiian Airlines and Air New Zealand have already carried out such measurements. “Civil aviation regulations are designed to keep passengers and airlines safe, and determining the weight of everything loaded onto an aircraft is an important step in ensuring it reaches its destination safely,” said Aly Thompson, spokesman the New Zealand aviation authority, the “Times”.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) also require airlines in their jurisdiction to carry out regular weight surveys and carry-on and checked-in baggage assessments.
According to the FAA, airlines have used average weights for passengers and baggage to calculate their weight and balance sheet for many years. “However, using average weights can result in differences between the actual weight of passengers and baggage and the average weight of passengers and baggage,” the FAA said, according to travel magazine Afar.
Knowing the exact weight of the passengers is not unimportant and can determine several important factors: For example, how the weight is distributed, how far and how fast an airplane can fly, how well it maneuvers and how much fuel it uses . Weight accuracy is also important for takeoff and landing.
In addition, more precise weight can save fuel: airplanes usually have about one percent more fuel on board than necessary. Accurate measurements of passenger weight could reduce additional fuel consumption and save around a billion dollars a year, writes the “Korea Times”.
EASA had commissioned a study on passenger weight at selected airports in the European Union for 2021. Such a study was last carried out in 2008.
The air traffic safety authority found that, contrary to expectations, the average weight of the passengers had not changed significantly compared to the previous study. Accordingly, male passengers weigh an average of 82.2 kilograms and thus 14.7 kilograms more than the female passengers, who weigh an average of 67.5 kilograms.
The study also provides information about who takes how much hand luggage with them. Men take more with them than women, business travelers more than holidaymakers and medium- and long-haul passengers more than short-haul travelers. The average weight of all luggage was 16 kg, which is 0.8 kg more than in the 2008 study.
The EASA survey 2021-22 comes to the conclusion that the average value of all passengers is 76.3 kilograms. Hand luggage weighs an average of 7.7 kilograms. The average passenger weight for adults plus hand luggage is 84 kilograms.
Quellen: Korean Air, “The Korea Times”, FAA, EASA, “Times”, “Afar”
