Asiana Airlines has announced they will be weighing passengers to obtain data and comply with Korean safety standards. Studies have shown passenger weight has been changing over time and that incorrect information can pose safety risks.
Between the 22nd and 31st of January, Asiana Airlines will measure the weight of its passengers along with their carry-on baggage. The objective is to obtain an overall weight average, in order for “safe operations,” as per their announcement.
They added that the data is collected anonymously and that compliance from passengers is optional. They also said that the initiative did not originate at the company, as it comes “by the guideline of the Korean government.” In other countries, airlines often send optional surveys to passengers asking about their weight, South Korea has opted for a more accurate and invasive way.
This unorthodox method of collecting data from passengers is enforced by the Korean legal framework, which forces airlines to send accurate updates about passenger weight to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
By contrast, in the European Union use of passenger data from companies has been limited since 2018’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This law clearly states in Article 9 that processing of “data concerning health” is strictly prohibited, though it makes exceptions for public safety, only in the domain of healthcare.
In 2023, Korean Air also weighed passengers for safety reasons, but took down their announcement after receiving public backlash. Air New Zealand also performed a five-week weight check on passengers the same year. Finnair is on record utilizing a similar measure in 2017 in flights from Helsinki, prior to GDPR. Finally, Hawaiian Air did the same for flights within the Americas.
Accounting for changing global weight
Having more accurate estimates helps airlines reduce costs, ensure safety, and deal with a changing global reality of obesity and demand for air travel, according to experts.
Knowing the weight carried by an airplane can be a benefit to safety. Airlines often recalibrate the weight distribution and balance of their airplanes, according to Blaise Waguespack, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
“If you don’t have the right weight balance profile, a wrong gust of wind — boom, you’ll drag the tail,” Waguespack said to a travel website.
A study entitled “The effects of changing passenger weight on aircraft flight performance” looked at the impact of passenger weight on flights. It said that 1.9% of flights in the United States (USA) had incorrect payload (weight) information. One of these flights with incorrect data on passengers led to a plane crash in 2003 with all 21 passengers dying.
“A notable incident was that of Midwest Airlines Flight 5481 in 2003, the aircraft experienced a tail heavy attitude during take-off and subsequently stalled and crashed due to improper weight and balance,” says the study from the Journal of Transport and Health. “The investigation noted, in part, that a contributing factor was that inaccurate weight estimation of the passengers.”
According to Michael Suckow, a professor at Purdue University’s School of Aviation and Transportation Technology, smaller planes, like the one in the 2003 flight, are more susceptible to errors because of incorrect weight information. However, all planes, big or small, have to have a balance program.
Additionally, having better estimations on passenger weight can help airlines reduce their operational costs. One of the main costs of air travel is the cost of fuel, which has been increasing since 2019. The higher the weight of the passengers, the more fuel they need.
A study about the aviation sector in the USA estimated that the increase in obesity between 1970 and 2010 had caused an increase of 37 billion US dollars of fuel used for air travel, with its corresponding greenhouse emissions.
As the World Health Organization estimates, the international obesity rate is increasing, leading to new passenger weight averages across the world.
