Air NZ turning airport into weigh station
If you’re hopping on an Air New Zealand flight between now and July 2, don’t be surprised if they ask you to hop on the scales first.
The airline aims to weigh more than 10,000 travellers, with their hand luggage, before they board international flights from Auckland International Airport.
Air NZ described the practice as a “weighty issue” in a press release shared yesterday.
But don’t worry, unlike the scale at home, the gym or the doctor’s office, no one can see numbers that pop up, even the airline staff. Instead, the data will be collected anonymously, to determine the average weight of passengers and their carry-on luggage.
When attempting to get a gigantic object, full of people and baggage, into the air, knowing roughly how much everything weighs is not just helpful, but a regulatory requirement.
Passenger and baggage weight isn’t the only thing the airline needs to know, according to Air NZ load control improvement specialist Alastair James.
“We weigh everything that goes on the aircraft — from the cargo to the meals onboard, to the luggage in the hold. For customers, crew and cabin bags, we use average weights, which we get from doing this survey.”
Regulations require this survey to be done every five years, so this is not a first for the airline.
The same procedure took place in April 2021 across the domestic network.
For those who feel hesitant, James stressed the survey was totally voluntary and anonymous.
The survey for international networks was last done in 2015 but this was the first year since Covid19 that there had been enough travellers to get an accurate number.