AIR NEW ZEALAND IS ASKING PASSENGERS TO WEIGH IN BEFORE THEY TRAVEL
THEY REQUIRE THE DATA TO HELP CALCULATE THE WEIGHT AND BALANCE OF AIRCRAFT BEFORE TAKEOFF
New Zealand's national airline is asking passengers to weigh after they check in for international flights from Auckland International Airport.
Air New Zealand wants to weigh 10,000 passengers during a one-month survey. The weight will be anonymously recorded in a database but will not be visible to airline staff or other passengers, the company said.
It's a requirement of the Civil Aviation Authority, "It’s a regulatory requirement for us to know the weight of everything that goes on the aircraft, and there’s a good reason for that," Alastair James, the airline's load control specialist, said. "To fly safely and efficiently, we need to be able to calculate the weight and balance of the aircraft each and every time we fly.”
It is not the first time the airline has asked passengers to weigh in, with customers on domestic flights having been asked to do so a couple of years ago.
While the survey has largely received support in New Zealand, some American citizens have expressed their concerns on social media about privacy and body discrimination.
John Cox, NBC News' aviation expert, said the methods and data collected by Air New Zealand are important and could bring "wide-ranging benefits" to the world.
"Air New Zealand and the New Zealand regulators are actually helping the industry. I believe you may see some other airlines utilize this at some point in the future," he said.
The airline said the survey began this week and will run through July 2, 2023.
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