Have you ever thought that your weight might affect your air travel? Recently, some Thai airlines began an initiative to envision the load of passengers and their luggage before boarding the plane. What is the goal? They want to offer a more efficient flight experience by optimizing weight distribution, which might ultimately reduce fuel consumption.
During the week of October 16-20, many passengers at Don Mueang Airport had the chance to participate in voluntary weigh-ins conducted by several airlines. One of them, Fly AirAsia, shared information in regards to the initiative on its Facebook page to gather average weight data that would help improve flight efficiency in the long run.
The airline can even use weight data to enhance and increase service efficiency in step with established safety standards. This initiative is the results of the airline’s cooperation with the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand to gather passenger weight data. Interestingly, this data will likely be treated as confidential in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act (UDO).
Recently, Thai Lion Air also joined this revolutionary move. They invited passengers to participate in weighing themselves and their luggage through the week of October 17-20 with a view to collect priceless statistics on average body weight. It’s all aimed toward making a more efficient future for aviation.
Thai Lion Air also works closely with the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand and please note that passenger information will likely be treated confidentially in accordance with the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).
Weighing passengers and their baggage before boarding is a voluntary process and can only be carried out at Don Mueang Airport on chosen flights.
Another airline rumored to be participating on this initiative is Bangkok Airways. From mid to late this month, Bangkok Airways will likely be inviting passengers to participate in a weigh-in survey with their hand luggage.
It’s not only Thai airlines that do that. The principle of passenger weighing has also been adopted by foreign airlines to check and calculate the usual and average weight of passengers.
On May 30, Air New Zealand announced a five-week program of weighing passengers at departure gates as a part of passenger weight screening. Meanwhile, in August, Korean Air began weighing passengers and baggage on domestic and international flights.
The collected data will likely be used not only to enhance flight safety, but in addition to regulate the mass distribution within the air and ultimately reduce excessive fuel consumption. This suggests that we may even see more exciting developments on the planet of aviation within the near future.
Source: Tajger | Nation Thailand | VnExpress International
