Starting Monday, passengers flying on Korean Air could also be asked to step on a scale before boarding their flight.
The exercise, which can last about three weeks, is required by law and applies to all Korean flag carriers, a Korean Air representative told CNBC.
The law requires airlines to weigh passengers and their carry-on luggage at the very least every five years and is “crucial for safety of flight operations,” the representative told CNBC.
The announcement was met with backlash from the general public, in accordance with local media.
A notice detailing the exercise — set to start at Gimpo International Airport Monday, followed by Incheon Airport next month — has been removed from the airline’s website, attributable to “sufficient notice and media coverage,” in accordance with the airline.
Is it reasonable to weigh passengers?
“Definitely not,” said Vance Hilderman, CEO of the aviation safety company Afuzion.
A minimum of not for the aim of safety, he said.
“For those who’re at a small Bombardier, a small Embraer jet, and we had 10 very obese people … it could make a small difference,” he said. “On business aircraft, anything from a 737 and above you recognize, 120 people, we’ve it in-built.”
Aviation software can adjust for weight changes, air density and other aspects, which is why safety is not compromised even in situations where passenger makeup is atypical, comparable to an early morning flight of mostly businessmen, who are inclined to weigh greater than the typical traveler, he said.
Overall, a major weight increase per passenger could be eclipsed by the burden of fuel, cargo and the aircraft itself, said Hilderman. “Fuel is 20 times greater than the passenger weight,” he said.
Slightly than specializing in passenger weight, it’s more vital to regulate for extra cargo and the variety of passengers on board, said Afuzion CEO Vance Hilderman.
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But Shem Malmquist, an instructor at Florida Tech’s College of Aeronautics, said random weight samples are idea.
“We use average weights of passengers, but persons are getting lots heavier,” he said. “300 folks that weigh greater than average can put an airplane significantly over weight, and all of our performance calculations — runway length, climb, obstacle clearance, landing distances, altitude capabilities — all are depending on weight, amongst other things.”
Hilderman agrees that individuals are getting larger, but he said passengers now differ in other ways too.
“Americans are getting heavier. So are Chinese, so are Koreans,” he said. “But we’re also flying younger … so it’s actually offset the typical human’s weight increase.”
A study published in 2019 within the Journal of Transport & Health found that regions with higher obesity prevalence “may begin to see significantly compromised safety margins if increasing weight trends proceed.”
Jose Silva, an associate professor at Australia’s RMIT University’s School of Engineering and one among the study’s authors, told CNBC that he thinks airlines are reluctant to weigh passengers attributable to the sensitive nature of the subject.
“There may be also a lack of expertise of the protection gains which might be obtained if there have been more accurate means to establish the passengers’ weight, as an alternative of counting on standards,” he said.
A whistleblower grievance filed in 2021 alleges that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has failed to acknowledge questions of safety brought on by counting on average passenger or baggage weights that now not reflect the U.S. population.
Where airlines weigh passengers
Finnair did the identical in 2017, and Hawaiian Air has conducted multiple passenger weight exercises on flights between Honolulu and American Samoa. (The now defunct Samoa Air used to charge passengers by their weight, in accordance with Reuters.)
Flyers in the USA likely won’t be weighed, said Hilderman, despite the fact that an FAA advisory circular published in 2019 stated that airlines can weigh passengers.
It’s a special story in Europe, where carriers follow European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regulations.
American airlines follow regulations set forth by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which doesn’t require that passengers be weighed, said Hilderman.
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EASA weighed nearly 23,000 passengers in 2008 and 2009 and located that average passenger weight had increased by 3 to five kilograms (6.6 to 11 kilos). A subsequent report published in 2022 found that mean passenger weight increased barely since 2009, for a mean of 82 kg (181 kilos) for men and 68 kg (149 kilos) for girls.
Periodic weight assessments — of passengers and other items on board — might help airlines determine if weight estimates are still accurate to offset the quantity of cargo they carry, said Hilderman.
But “there’s just a little more to this mystery,” he added.
“In Europe, they’re just a little more rigorous about individual rights with privacy,” he said. “With EASA, they need to protect the passengers and say: Look, the passengers are getting larger, so airlines, we would like you to supply a minimum pitch distance in your seats.”
Industrial airline seating relies on average passenger weight from the Nineteen Fifties to Seventies, Hilderman said. Since then, people have gotten larger, but airline seats have dwindled, he said — “29 inches in some cases, it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
A hot-button topic
Passenger size on planes is a controversial topic — with oversized flyers lodging discrimination allegations over Lilliputian plane aisles and seat sizes, and smaller travelers publicly venting about seat encroachment.
But unlike other industries that service heavy people — from makers of chairs to toilets to amusement park rides — the airline industry hasn’t enlarged seats.
“Some have proposed that obese passengers be required to pay for 2 seats as a way to not make other passengers uncomfortable, but that lets the airlines escape any responsibility,” said Nick Gausling, a consumer services business consultant and managing director of Romy Group LLC.
Gausling noted that while other industries have been pressured to prioritize customer experience, “consumers have little or no selection to take their business elsewhere” relating to airlines.
Tigress Osborn, the manager director of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, told CNBC that almost all major airlines have responded with three options for obese travelers: pay for pricier tickets that include larger seats, purchase a second seat, or stay home.
“Fat people should travel for pleasure identical to everyone else, and we also must do not forget that air travel is for work, for family obligations, and for other responsibilities, too,” she said. “Our taxes help support this industry, and we should be accommodated safely and comfortably, with access to accessible seating in any respect price levels.”
Ideas to assist larger passengers
Hilderman said airlines can sell second seats to plus-size travelers at a heavily discounted rate.
As people have gotten larger, airline seats have shrunk, which has led to frequent complaints from air travelers of all sizes.
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Or they’ll reserve half a dozen seats for larger people, which passengers could privately register for online, using height and weight details from their driver’s licenses, he said.
Those seats might be sold at a small surcharge, and if not booked by qualified passengers the week before the flight, released to anyone willing to pay for them, he added.
Any hope for wider seats?
As as to whether airlines will increase seat sizes for everybody, Hilderman said that while it’s mathematically possible, it is not practical.
“Fuselage diameters have been predetermined,” he said, referencing the major body of the aircraft. “We currently have 29,000 business aircraft flying, and we only make about 1,500 per 12 months, so it might take 20 years to exchange the complete fleet.”
Refitting planes with wider seats means narrowing the aisle, which is already a good squeeze, he said. To widen the aisle, one seat from every row would have to be removed, leading to a 20-25% ticket price increase across the board, he said.
“Most individuals don’t take a look at what form of aircraft they’re flying, and so they don’t know what the seat pitch or width is,” said Hilderman. “They’re simply buying on price — and the airlines know that.”
Arnold Barnett, a management science and statistics professor on the MIT Sloan School of Management, told CNBC that almost all flyers are willing to endure current seat sizes in return for lower fares.
If seating modified, “airfares would should go up, and flying would turn out to be unaffordable to passengers on limited budgets.”
For a lot of, a good airline seat is best than a seat on a bus, he said.