Passengers at Helsinki airport flying with the Finnish airline are being asked to step onto weighing scales prior to boarding.

The voluntary scheme – passengers who don’t want to do it are still allowed to fly – is gathering data on passenger weight, to see if the estimates they’re currently using to calculate fuel and safety are accurate. Until now, FinnAir has used European Aviation Safety Agency passenger standard weight estimates, which calculate 88 kg for a male passenger, 70kg for a female, and 35kg for a child – plus carry-on bags for each. The estimates were put together in 2009.

But the EASA found those averages hide a range of variables: men travelling first class tend to weigh more than those in the economy, while for women the reverse is true. The average hand luggage is 6.1kg, but that average falls significantly in the summer and men carry on heavier items than women.

So far, 180 volunteers have offered to do the weigh-in, along with their carry-on luggage. Finnair will need 2,000 volunteers to understand regular payloads.

In 2016, Hawaiian Airlines won the right to weigh people travelling on its 2,600-mile route between Honolulu and American Samoa, with passengers assigned seats when checking-in to ensure weight is evenly distributed around the cabin. The move was controversial, as it only focused on one route between Honolulu and Pago Pago, and Samoans have the highest rate of obesity in the world.

Source: Independent, BBC