If you have plans to fly out of Auckland Airport (AKL) on an international flight with Air New Zealand, be prepared to be asked to hop on the weighing scale before departure.
Until July 2, 2023, the New Zealand flag carrier plans to weigh more than 10,000 travelers with their hand luggage as part of a regulatory requirement.
The good news: stepping on the scale is not mandatory and the weight is confidential.
The airline said that the weight survey requirement from New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority is done every five years.
The last time a weight survey was done for international flights was in 2015. The next survey was pushed to 2023 because passenger numbers in 2020 did not reflect an accurate number due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Passengers were last weighed for domestic flights in 2021.
“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,” Air New Zealand load control improvement specialist Alastair James told various media outlets.