A British start-up would like to know what airline passengers weigh before they board their flights.
It's not nosy or pushing a fitness kick or trying to make people feel bad. It doesn't even want to make it obvious it's calculating a person's weight. It just wants to save the planet from carbon emissions and save the airlines some money, according to a report this week by the Lonely Planet.
The company, Fuel Matrix, has developed technology that would allow airlines to determine passengers' weights with more precision than the estimated weights they use now.
"It's critical to know the actual weight an airliner is carrying to ensure the correct fuel uplift," Roy Fuscone, the company's chief executive, was quoted as saying. Instead of relying on generous estimates currently in use - about 194 pounds for men and about 154 pounds for each woman, as set by the European Aviation Safety Agency - an airline could know exactly what the people and luggage on board weigh. That might mean taking on less fuel.
While the technology might be new, the concept isn't. Other airlines have sought to alter their practices based on the economics of calculating each passenger's weight, and their baggage.