Air New Zealand is weighing passengers prior to boarding international flights
Air New Zealand is weighing passengers prior to boarding them on flights in order to survey average passenger weight.
The BBC reported that the passengers’ weight information will be, “anonymously recorded in a database but not be visible to airline staff or other passengers.”
“We know stepping on the scales can be daunting. We want to reassure our customers there is no visible display anywhere,” Air New Zealand’s load control improvement specialist, Alastair James, said, per CNBC.
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Why is the airline weighing passengers? The new requirement given by the Civil Aviation Authority requires airlines to “calculate the weight and balance of planes before takeoff,” according to NBC News.
“It’s a regulatory requirement for us to know the weight of everything that goes on the aircraft and there’s a good reason for that,” James said.
Deseret News reported back in 2003 following a plane crash that killed 21 people in Charlotte, North Carolina, that, “flying too close to the known limits for a plane’s weight and balance can have catastrophic consequences for a commuter aircraft.”
“To fly safely and efficiently, we need to be able to calculate the weight and balance of the aircraft each and every time we fly,” James said.
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Details to note: People reported that the weighing-in procedure started on May 29 and that the airline “is requesting passengers to volunteer to weigh themselves, as well as their luggage, before boarding international flights from Auckland International Airport.”
James continued assuring passengers that they, “have nothing to worry about. There’s no weight shown on the screen, anywhere, it’s just captured and goes straight into the computer.”
CNBC reported that this is not the first time the airline has weighed passengers for flights as it previously did so for domestic flights back in 2021.
The survey is set to take place until July 2.
