Finnish airline asks passengers to weigh before they board flights

Another airline has begun to request volunteers to step on the scales before the takeoff. Finnair is now tracking the weights of its passengers on volunteer basis as part of its aircraft balance calculations.

In order to update its average weightand comply with civil aviation authorities'requirements, the Finnish airline is requesting its passengers to have their hand bags weighed at the departure gate.

"The weighing information is used for the average computations necessary for the safe operation of flights and it is not connected in any manner to the personal information of the customers," Satu Munnukka, the head of ground processes at Finnair, said in a statement. Name of the passengersor booking numbers are not recorded along with their weight.

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As of Wednesday, 600 travellers had offered to be weighed, according to a Finnair representative, reported The Guardian. Individuals received a free baggage tag in exchange for agreeing to be weighed.

According to Finnair, the information will be gathered in February, April, and May for a range of flights that leave from the airline's hub in Helsinki.

Authorities demand that Finnair update its passenger weight readings every five years. According to the statement, data for the most recent round was gathered in 2017 and 2018.

For the purpose of calculating aircraft mass and balance, the European Aviation Safety Authority also gathers its own statistics on passenger weight. It’s most recent study, conducted in 2022, revealed that there has been no discernible change in the average passenger weight from the 2009 study.

In order to gain a better understanding of average weights for safety, passengers on Hawaiian Airlines, Air New Zealand, and Korean Air have made similar requests in the past year. In 2015 the Uzbekistan Airlinesintroduced the rule of weighing passengers.

(With inputs from agencies)