A number of passengers flying with Finnair are currently choosing to weigh themselves and their carry-on luggage before leaving for their destinations. The objective of this program is to improve the airline’s weight estimation accuracy for aircraft.

Around 800 people volunteered for the trial at Helsinki Airport, according to CNN, and were given a reflective tag as a thank you for their participation. Passengers were given the assurance by the process’s authorities that their weight and personal data would be kept totally private.

Päivyt Tallqvist, Senior Vice President of Communications at Finnair, stressed the anonymity of the process, saying that the data would only be accessible to the staff member in charge of it.

She also mentioned that the airline is compiling information on the typical weight of travelers’ hand luggage. This data is essential for performing aircraft performance and balancing calculations that guarantee safe flight operations.

12,000 passengers are the target weight for the winter study, and plans call for even more participants in the summer. On Monday, February 5, the trial’s first phase got underway with about 800 volunteers.

Airlines must determine the total weight of all passengers, including hold and cargo, due to aircraft weight and trim, which affects seating options. These calculations are based on adherence to Civil Aviation Authority directives.

Airlines generally adhere to the European Aviation Safety Authority’s passenger weight guidelines. Nonetheless, certain airlines utilize their own metrics, such as Air New Zealand and Korean Air. Since 2018, Finnair has begun doing its measurements, and it needs to update its records every five years. The airline is gathering information for the winter and summer seasons, taking into account the temperature-dependent apparel choices of its passengers.

Finnair recorded 819,800 passengers in January, representing a 0.4% increase. RPKs, or revenue passenger kilometers, increased by 1.3%. Passenger Load Factor (PLF) for the airline as a whole dropped to 69.2%, a three percentage point decline. Due to increasing capacity in Asia and Europe, cargo tonnage rose by 17.5% annually. The number of revenue cargo tonne kilometers increased by 16.3%.