Passengers should ‘pay extra if they are too fat’

OVERWEIGHT passengers should pay a fat tax to fly on scheduled flights.

Tony Webber, former finance chief at Australian airline Qantas, said weight was the most important factor in determining how much fuel a plane used.

Mr Webber, now a professor at Sydney University Business School, said fuel burned by planes depends on many things “but the most important is the weight of the aircraft. The more a plane weighs, the more fuel it burns.”

He said if passengers on the aircraft weigh more, the aircraft consumes more fuel and the airline’s costs go up.

Mr Webber said airlines should increase airfares to recover the additional fuel costs and the burden of the higher fees should go on overweight people.

He said fare hikes should not be lumbered “on those who are shedding a few kilos or keeping their weight stable”.

Mr Webber said airline fuel costs have increased since 2000 not just because of higher oil and jet fuel prices “but also because the average adult passenger is carrying a bit more heft”.

Between 1926 and 2008, the average weight of an Australian female adult increased from 59 to 71 kilograms and the average weight of an Australian male adult increased from 72 to 85 kilos, according to Mr Webber.

On the Sydney to London via Singapore route, extra passenger kilos result in 3.72 extra barrels of fuel per flight burnt, which at current prices cost about £325.