Can you imagine arriving at the airport and getting on a scale before boarding? This is what the airline Finnair is doing with those passengers who volunteer. This is a study that will be carried out between the months of February and May and aims to calculate the balance of aircraft in the future. The Finnish company thus wants to update the average weight data collected in 2017 and 2018, which they have used until now for the measurements of their flights.
These weighings are rotating and are being carried out at the boarding gates for flights departing from Helsinki Airport. Finnair will differentiate between flights within the Schengen area and long-distance flights in this statistic. Customers who wish to collaborate will have to get on the scale with their carry-on luggage. The company will not request personal information such as name or reservation number, but will add age, gender and the class in which you are traveling to the record of the total weight of each passenger.
Each aircraft has a maximum weight established to guarantee a safe takeoff that cannot be exceeded. The companies know the mass of the plane itself, the fuel, the checked luggage and the cargo or the water tanks, among other aspects. However, the weight of passengers and hand luggage is calculated based on average weights established by the Finnish Civil Aviation Authority. Alternatively, airlines can use the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) standard weights or make their own measurements as Finnair is doing.
These measurements, as the company explains in a statement, will be delivered to the Finnish Transport and Communications agency (Traficom) between July and September of this year. Once the weighings are approved, Finnair will use this data to calculate the balance and loading of the aircraft from 2025 to 2030.
Satu Munnukkka, Head of Ground Processes at Finnair, has encouraged the airline’s customers to participate in this crucial study to ensure flight safety. “We record the total weight and background of the client and their hand luggage, without further personal data. Only the customer service agent working at the measurement point can see the total weight, so she can participate in the study with peace of mind,” she explains in a statement.
“In the previous measurements, five years ago, a good number of volunteers wanted to participate in the weighing, and we hope to have a good sample of volunteers this time, both business and leisure travelers, to be able to obtain the most accurate information possible in the face of important balance sheet calculations,” added Munnukka.