Pay-as-you-weigh fares advised

It may only have a slim chance of succeeding but a pay-as-you-weigh airline pricing scheme has been suggested.

Heavier passengers would pay more for their plane tickets and lighter ones less under plans put forward by a Norwegian professor.

Writing in this month’s Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Dr Bharat P Bhatta has put forward three proposals.

nFare according to weight: Charging passengers according to how much they and their belongings weigh, fixing a rate for kilograms per passenger so that a person weighing 60kg pays half the airfare of a 120kg person;

nBase fare minus or plus an extra charge: This option involves charging a fixed base rate, with an additional charge for heavier passengers. Every passenger could have a different fare according to this option;

nSame fare if the passenger has an average weight, but discounted/extra fare for low/excess weight below/above a certain limit. This option results in three types of fares: high fares, average fares and low fares.

Bhatta, who thinks the third option is most suitable, said “weight and space are far more important in aviation than other modes of transport, airlines should take this into account when pricing their tickets”.

Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management editor Dr Ian Yeoman said: “Every extra kilogramme means more expensive jet fuel must be burned, which leads to CO2 emissions and financial cost.

He added that, as the airline industry is “marginally profitable, maybe they should be looking to introduce scales at the check-in”.