The controversy generated by Finnair’s voluntary passenger weighing system at Helsinki Airport has shed light at concerns in the industry that passengers are getting heavier.
Airlines need accurate measures of passenger weights and luggage for safety and to comply with aviation regulations.
Mandatory weigh-ins for all passengers are not practical, so airlines typically use standard weight tables.
On behalf of The European Union Aviation Safety Agency EASA, Lufthansa Consulting surveyed 4,164 passengers and 1,998,070 pieces of checked luggage at six European airports in 2022.
- The average passenger weighed 75.6 kg (166.7 lbs), up by 1.1 kg (2.4 lbs) since 2009 while average carry-on luggage weight was 7.6 kg (16.8 lbs), up by 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs).
- Average checked luggage weight in 2022 was 15.9 kg (35 lbs), slightly less than in 2009.
- The percentage of travellers without carry-on luggage decreased from 6.2pc in 2009 to 3.3pc in 2022.
- Passengers flying with full-service carriers carried 0.8 kg (1.8 lbs) more in hand luggage than those flying with low-cost carriers.
- The average economy and premium economy passenger weighed 75.4 kg (166.2 lbs).
- The average business class passenger weighed 90.9 kg (200.4 lbs). This discrepancy is attributed to more male passengers in the business and first-class sections.
- Male passengers carried 0.2 kg (0.4 lbs) more in carry-on luggage than female passengers.
- Men’s carry-on luggage averaged 7.8 kg (17.2 lbs) with a total weight of 90 kg (198.4 lbs) for passenger plus luggage.
- Women’s carry-on luggage averaged 7.5 kg (16.5 lbs) with a total weight of 75 kg (165.3 lbs).
- Medium-haul passengers carried 0.2 kg (0.4 lbs) more hand luggage than short-haul passengers.
- In winter, passengers carried 1 kg (2.2 lbs) more carry-on luggage than in summer.
- Long-haul passengers checked in 1.3 kg (2.9 lbs) more luggage than short-haul passengers.
Passenger privacy is protected during the weigh-ins, and the data collected will inform mass calculations through 2030.
Long in advance of the survey, Michael O’Leary proposed in 2002 that heavier passengers should be charged more because of the excess weight they create on the aircraft, in a statement that was, and is, regarded as clever headline-bait. He said: ““Nobody wants to sit beside a really fat b-d on board. We have been frankly astonished at the number of customers who don’t only want to tax fat people but torture them.”
