Airline trials pre-flight passenger weigh-in

CGTN Europe

Airline passengers will be used to checking in before taking a flight, but maybe not weighing in?!   Finnish airline #Finnair is trialling weighing for some of its passengers, where both their bag and themselves will be weighed before take off. ✈️

Transcript

00:00 If you're a frequent flyer, you're used to checking in.

00:05 But what about weighing in?

00:07 Finnair has started asking passengers to step on the scales

00:11 before they step on board.

00:13 It's a controversial move, but there's logic behind it.

00:18 First off, cost.

00:20 The weight on the plane and everything inside it

00:22 determines how much fuel is needed.

00:25 Since no one knows how much the passengers weigh,

00:28 an estimate is used, one that errs on the side of caution

00:32 by assuming the plane's occupants are heavier

00:35 than they probably are.

00:37 Surplus weight means surplus fuel,

00:40 which itself contributes to the plane's weight,

00:43 so it burns even more fuel.

00:46 Experts say this costs the global airline industry

00:49 about a billion dollars a year,

00:51 while costing the planet by pouring out extra CO2.

00:56 And then there's safety.

00:57 A more balanced aircraft is a safer aircraft.

01:01 Very small planes always weigh passengers

01:04 so they can spread them out evenly.

01:06 On larger planes, pilots have to overcome imbalances

01:10 with in-flight adjustments called trimming.

01:14 But that burns fuel.

01:16 So weighing passengers improves safety,

01:19 profitability, and the environment.

01:21 It's not a new idea.

01:23 Uzbekistan Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines

01:26 are among other carriers which have asked passengers

01:28 to stand on the scales before boarding.

01:32 So Finnair isn't the first airline

01:34 and probably won't be the last to weigh in on the issue.

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Transcript

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