questions From Australia, joined Sep 2011, 301 posts, RR: 0 Posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2351 times:
How has the increase in obesity rates, especially in the western world, impacted airlines' operational performance?
Passengers are getting larger. Has this impacted take-off weight? What is the impact on fuel consumption? Does cargo take a hit to reduce weight? Are there other impacts? Or are there no material impacts?
(Note: this thread is not about passenger comfort, making "passengers of size" pay for two seats, etc)
FlyDeltaJets From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 1623 posts, RR: 3 Reply 1, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2183 times:
Quoting questions (Thread starter): How has the increase in obesity rates, especially in the western world, impacted airlines' operational performance?
As far as I know for UA and DL the standard passenger weight which is used to calculate weight and balance has not changed. Not to be funny but bigger passengers means bigger clothes, this can be why bags seem so much heavier now.
doug_Or From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 3158 posts, RR: 4 Reply 3, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 2024 times:
Quoting shufflemoomin (Reply 2): What is the weight that airlines currently use as an "average weight" for passengers?
Varies by airline, but they have changed over the years. This is why 80s era turbo props (EMB-120, SAAB 340, and DASH-8-100) are generally weight restricted to less passengers than they have seats.
RubberJungle From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2010, 286 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1954 times:
Standard weights have been adjusted in the past.
EASA commissioned a survey on passenger weights in 2008, to check whether the standards used in safety regulations should be updated. The report concluded that the standard mass should be 88kg.
If you want to read the document, the link is below. Summary on pages 13-14:
MasseyBrown From United States of America, joined Dec 2002, 4720 posts, RR: 7 Reply 6, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 1541 times:
I'd guess obesity increases boarding times and probably debarking times as well. The tubs just aren't as light on their feet as the rest of the crowd.
This was in response to the Air Midwest US Airways Express Crash in Charlotte in 2003 when the airplane was overloaded and a maintenance problem reduced elevator authority. When the average weight went up, it hurt airline operations since they had to reduce the payload available for fuel and cargo. Transcon routes became more difficult. This especially hurt airlines operating 737NGs and A320s on US transcon routes. Smaller airplanes were also affected since the new numbers made it almost impossible to dispatch an EMB 120 or Saab 340 with all their seats occupied.
If you have never designed an airplane part before, let the real designers do the work!
Probably means more wear and tear on seats. I'm surprised the armrests don't break off when some passengers much wider than 17 inches squeeze themselves into the seat and sometimes have to go sideways to fit down the aisle.
Another poential impact may involve safety, as very large passengers can't move as fast during an evacuation and may block other passengers where even a few seconds can make a difference (e.g. fire).
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