It was seen coming. More than a decade ago, Samoa Air decided for the first time to calculate the price of the ticket according to the weight of the passenger, in one of the countries with the most obese people in the world (60% of the population). A few years later, Samoa Air disappeared from the radar, and the initiative was not reproduced in other airlines, but if on the other hand the feeling of crampedness on the planes has been increasing over the years, it was partly due to the mass average body size of passengers has not stopped increasing since the sixties or seventies, when space standards were set in commercial aviation, and partly because with the emergence of low-cost airlines there has been a tendency to reduce the average space per passenger, instead of increasing it. Fatter, less room in the seat, more cramps, and the trip more uncomfortable.
Then came the restrictions on hand luggage from low-cost companies, then some traditional airlines jumped on the bandwagon, and now we get the news that Air New Zealand is going to weigh all travelers on international flights. The fact is that there is already speculation about how much money airlines could save on fuel if travelers lost weight thanks to the use of medications like Ozempic.
The number is not small. Up to 80 million dollars, according to what Jefferies Bank analysts have published, who have dedicated themselves to estimating the implications that a “thinner society” will have due to the use of this type of drugs. Makes sense?
Well, you should have it when other airlines have already tried or are trying to weigh passengers and their luggage at boarding controls. This is the case of a Thai airline that began to require its passengers that, once their luggage had been weighed, they stood on the scale on the conveyor belt to also find out its weight. Bangkok Airways was responsible for the initiative, and the company said it would continue to collect data on its customers’ weight in a completely anonymous and non-discriminatory manner until a certain date. The objective would be to optimize the weight distribution in its aircraft as well as save fuel, in the current circumstances, with a more precise knowledge of the human load. They have not yet said whether the passenger’s weight could affect the price of their ticket.
Another Asian airline, Korean Air, is testing the same project at Seoul International Airport, after having completed it on its domestic flights. The Korean flagship company weighs passengers along with their luggage and transmits the data equally anonymously to the Ministry of Transport, which seeks to get a more accurate idea of the average load per ticket. In theory, Korean Air allows that the passenger can refuse to be weighed.
In Europe, however, it seems that the only experiment in this regard was that of the Finnish airline Finnair, six years ago, although in this case it was completely voluntary for passengers. A study by the European Union last year confirmed the progressive increase in weight of the average passenger, which would have increased to 80 kilos in the case of men and 68 in the case of women. In the United States the reference value exceeds 88 kilos for men and 70 for women. In the world, according to the World Health Organization, around 2 billion adults are overweight and the trend, according to experts, will continue to increase in the coming years. Recently, an investigation by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) and the Spanish Food Safety Agency (AESAN) has estimated the prevalence of obesity and overweight in the country and has concluded that 55.6% of adults and a third of minors are overweight.
I agree that it is an average, but the figures do not seem so exaggerated as to start sending this type of messages. And much less when they are associated with the intake of medications as powerful as Ozempic and Wegovy (indicated to treat diabetes, but which produce weight loss) or the recently approved Zepbound, created to lose weight.
The market, as one analyst would say, is at its peak, which could whet the airlines’ appetite, but it cannot be that they have thought that customer obesity is to blame for high fuel costs, instead of assuming that airline companies are going to have to change many things if they really want to pollute less, and at the same time keep their business on the path to profit.
On the other hand, if airlines want to address obesity-related issues, they don’t need to start trying to predict the future. Right now, in the present, they could start to better address the difficulties that overweight people experience every time they get on a plane. It may not be as profitable as that dreamed of “thin and ideal society”, but not doing so has a clear name: discrimination. The same word that comes to mind after reading speculations like those raised by the Jefferies Bank study.
Less pollution without sacrificing benefits: a bargain
Everything is limited to reducing the load on the plane, which is equivalent to emitting less CO2. A measure that is not only motivated by making more money, but also by the obligation to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, a key point in the agreements agreed with the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Reducing the frequency of flights, reducing the number of seats occupied, switching to a sustainable fuel or allowing less baggage are options to achieve this reduction goal. However, the objective is to be able to adapt to the challenge of decarbonization without losing benefits, which further complicates the arduous task.
It cannot be that airlines have thought that customer obesity is to blame for high fuel consumption, instead of assuming that airlines are going to have to change many things if they really want to pollute less.
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